How to drill your own water well • Hacker News Board

Re: How to drill your own water well

#211

Post by mbivert » Fri, Aug 25, 2023, 9:29 PM UTC

stickfigure wrote: post #155

presidentender wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My dad drilled water wells in the US after spending many years working on oil wells overseas. His clients would often hire witchers (water witches, water witchers, well witches - I think the distance from Appalachia to Montana clouded the specific vocabulary). You'd have this very old man dodder around the property with a pair of sticks, and when the sticks magically chose to pull together and cross, that's where you…

It's shocking how many people still give weight to astrology.

Slightly tangential but I've found it insightful: there are studies, e.g. [0], showing correlations between lifespan and date of birth. Causal factors could include for example seasonal viral infections, lesser amount of vitamin D in the winter, etc.

Of course, this tells nothing about well-witching, but illustrates that at least some old beliefs aren't as unreasonable as one might think.

[0]: https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.041431898

Re: How to drill your own water well

#212

Post by stickfigure » Fri, Aug 25, 2023, 10:34 PM UTC

cman1444 wrote: post #203

stickfigure wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's shocking how many people still give weight to astrology.

I consider myself a pretty cynical person, but I tried it myself to prove someone else wrong and I couldn't help but feel like it actually worked. We were looking for a water pipe, not just sitting groundwater. The only explanation I could come up with was that for some reason a magnetic field was being created by the pipe underground. I don't remember if the water was flowing or not when we did it. I feel silly even…

It's possible you just got lucky. That's the problem with N=1 experiments, and why you should be skeptical of your limited experience.

Feynman put it this way: The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#213

Post by stickfigure » Fri, Aug 25, 2023, 10:40 PM UTC

mbivert wrote: post #211

stickfigure wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's shocking how many people still give weight to astrology.

Slightly tangential but I've found it insightful: there are studies, e.g. [0], showing correlations between lifespan and date of birth. Causal factors could include for example seasonal viral infections, lesser amount of vitamin D in the winter, etc. Of course, this tells nothing about well-witching, but illustrates that at least some old beliefs aren't as unreasonable as one might think. [0]: https://www.pnas.org/do…

Even without evaluating the quality of the study, I don't have a hard time accepting the notion that the season of your birth may affect your average lifespan by a few months. It is a very modest claim.

The claims of astrologers are not at all like this. They are vastly more specific.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#214

Post by quickthrower2 » Fri, Aug 25, 2023, 11:25 PM UTC

moooo99 wrote: post #139

quickthrower2 wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don’t water the lawn (or fertilise or roundup etc.) in Australia: for some reason it stays green without it: buffalo grass is as tough as nails! Sometimes it goes yellow but it always comes back!

Lawns in the US consume as many resources as they do because the typical lawn you see isn't a species native to the US, instead it was imported from Europe. With the soil being different etc., it is not surprising lawns, especially when they're as big as in the US, require so many resources.

Wow I am surprised monsanto etc. hasn’t come up with and patented a seed to work well on US soil (pun intended)

Re: How to drill your own water well

#215

Post by amluto » Sat, Aug 26, 2023, 3:41 AM UTC

killingtime74 wrote: post #14

This ignores the most difficult part...getting a permit

Well permit requirements are highly variable. As I understand it, in surprisingly large parts of California, the permit is almost automatic. In other parts of California, there are more complex regulations and sometimes even requirements to meter and pay for (!) well water usage. Cough, Santa Clara, cough.

I’d actually be all in favor, except that the rate for non-agricultural users seems to be over 10x the rate for agricultural users.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#216

Post by amluto » Sat, Aug 26, 2023, 3:54 AM UTC

solomonb wrote: post #184

Is this at all viable in Southern California? My gut says no, but I would love to be wrong.

There’s lots of data here:

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/ca/nwis/current/?type=gw

Oddly a bunch of counties are missing from the results, despite USGS appearing to have some data.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#217

Post by mbivert » Sat, Aug 26, 2023, 5:11 AM UTC

stickfigure wrote: post #213

mbivert wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Slightly tangential but I've found it insightful: there are studies, e.g. [0], showing correlations between lifespan and date of birth. Causal factors could include for example seasonal viral infections, lesser amount of vitamin D in the winter, etc. Of course, this tells nothing about well-witching, but illustrates that at least some old beliefs aren't as unreasonable as one might think. [0]: https://www.pnas.org/do…

Even without evaluating the quality of the study, I don't have a hard time accepting the notion that the season of your birth may affect your average lifespan by a few months. It is a very modest claim. The claims of astrologers are not at all like this. They are vastly more specific.

Okay granted; my intent wasn't to justify astrology either, but merely to encourage prudence when dismissing "old ideas." To be clear, I'm not talking about modern astrology, but really about old beliefs that could have been built on repeated observations, but weirdly/poorly phrased.

In The Republic of Plato, there's this idea of rotation between political regimes[0], and it's explained by the way each generation treats the next one. Down to Earth example: think of overprotecting parents making their child unprepared for an ordinary adult life.

Now of course, this is again distant from the discourse of our favorite astrologers, but if you squint a little, there are conceptual similarities.

Thinking about it a little more, and on point to your original remark, I wonder if the fact that a considerable amount of people like to believe in astrology isn't tied to the same instinct that made old people personify everything and anything as Gods: a strong tendency to see order and intelligence in chaos.

After all, science is still about doing just this, minus the anthropomorphism. So, not so shocking: just human nature at works.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_(Plato)#Book_VIII%E2%...

Re: How to drill your own water well

#218

Post by JakeFromTexas » Sat, Aug 26, 2023, 5:21 AM UTC

ooterness wrote: post #178

kylebenzle wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So the concern is that a farmer will drill the well, pull up the drill head, then accidentally spill a tank of oil then the oil will go down the hole and... contaminate the hole?

In short, yes. The hole for the well works both ways; it's a fast track for any surface-level pollutants to get into the groundwater, contaminating it for everyone. Local law may require barriers to prevent this, such as an elevated concrete pad at the top of the well. This how-to guide didn't mention anything like that. Permits help ensure that important steps aren't skipped.

You should be 100 times more worried about fertilizer runoff into storm drains than some random farmer drilling a well and then ruining it by pouring used motor oil into it.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#219

Post by stickfigure » Sat, Aug 26, 2023, 7:06 AM UTC

mbivert wrote: post #217

stickfigure wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even without evaluating the quality of the study, I don't have a hard time accepting the notion that the season of your birth may affect your average lifespan by a few months. It is a very modest claim. The claims of astrologers are not at all like this. They are vastly more specific.

Okay granted; my intent wasn't to justify astrology either, but merely to encourage prudence when dismissing "old ideas." To be clear, I'm not talking about modern astrology, but really about old beliefs that could have been built on repeated observations, but weirdly/poorly phrased. In The Republic of Plato, there's this idea of rotation between political regimes[0], and it's explained by the way each generation tre…

While I don't think this particular wikipedia page is especially concise, I do think it's a great jumping off point for links you will find interesting:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroscience_of_religion

I first learned about the link between temporal lobe epilepsy and hyperreligiosity from Robert Sapolsky's Biology and Human Behavior. From your comments I think you'd find it as interesting as I did.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#220

Post by badtension » Sat, Aug 26, 2023, 7:42 AM UTC

OfSanguineFire wrote: post #104

badtension wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could bypass that with a domestic wastewater treatment plant.

That does not appear to be the case. A friend of mine spent a considerable amount of money a few years ago to build a wastewater treatment system on his property. Then the gmina told him that, under new legislation, he would still have to connect his property to the common sewage system. This is something that he and many of his neighbours were reluctant to do, because it brings new monthly service charges. He tried…

That's very concerning, I did a little query yesterday and haven't found any law changes that might have been introduced recently.

https://sip.lex.pl/akty-prawne/dzu-dziennik-ustaw/utrzymanie...

Not trying to ignore your point, I am aware gmina might try and force their own solutions without respect to the more general law (there's been cases resolved in favor of the common people in the past). If you have any more details why you absolutely have to connect to the municipal sewage system please let me know.