Irrigation well

Not sure if this is the right place to post. MODS feel free to move if needed.

Recently relocated back to my home state of Oregon and bought an older (relative) house. Built in 1962, in what was considered outside city limits at the time, the property had well and septic. Over time the neighborhood grew up around and the city extended city water and sewer to the house.

Septic was filled in 1993 but the well remains for irrigation purposes. I have tried looking up information on the county website but records were kind of just getting started right around the time the house was built and can't specifically find my address. 3 other homes just up the street all have irrigation wells listed at 20-30 foot deep with a flow of about 25gpm.

My questions are:

• Would a contractor have more luck/access in finding information about my specific well?
• I would like to have the water tested - do the kits online offer good results or is it better to have a professional come in?

Any other tip/tricks would be great to know. Previous owners have said it has never ran dry over the course of 30 years of ownership but this will be my first time owning a well.

TIA

 

I found the depth of my well by dropping a weighted fishing line down the pipe. My well is 80' deep.and the groundwater table is only 3'.
The Agriculture agency tests water free in my location.
House has access to sewer but my septic works and I'm grandfathered and hope to never have to connect to sewer.

 

I'm not a well guy, just a DIY engineer who has an irrigation well.

With close your neighbor's wells at 20-30 feet, yours likely isn't much different.

I've also measured depth with a weight and string. I'd suggest you use something other than lead, just in case the string gets caught on the pipe/wire/pump/etc and you end up breaking it.

Just guessing here, but if you can find info on your neighbor's well but not your own.... Your well may have been installed DIY without permitting. (that would not be legal in my state, but I'm sure it happens in my state) A 20-30 foot well is an easy DIY project, for those inclined to do so.

If your water pipe coming off the pump is pvc (i.e. what carries pressurized water inside the well, not the well casing), be careful if you ever remove the pump. As you lift it out, the PVC isn't flexible, so it will go straight into the air. In that situation PVC has a tendency to break, letting the pipe come down on you like a spear. Its preferable to have a flexible plastic tubing as the pipe inside the well casing, so as you pull the pump out it makes an arch and curls up in the yard. At 20-30 foot, pvc may be ok, but still worth mentioning.

If you want to test the draw down or water level, it would be good to do it near the end of a summer. That's when your water level is likely to be lowest. (so you don't get an overly optimistic idea of your well capacity)

 

Call your County Extension. They can guide you.

 

Every well should have a metal plate attached by the driller that lays out depth, static water level, gpm. Look for it on the casing.

 

It's doubtful that a contractor would be able to find public records better than you. You might want to take a trip to the county records office and search by either address, tax map/GPIN, or possibly deedbook numbers. It's all going to depend on how the records were filed and by which entity, and how well the records were kept. Here in Virginia, it's the state health department that issues well permits and keeps those records. Not sure about Oregon.

Testing all depends on what you're interested in finding out. If you're looking for roundabout estimates on basic stuff like pH, nitrogen, bacteria, etc., then an online kit will work. If you want more exact numbers and also want to test for metals or pesticides, then you'll probably want to go with a laboratory. Keep in mind it can be expensive, and if you're just using the water for irrigation and not for drinking, it's not very useful having this more detailed info.

I hope this helps. I work in the environmental field, so feel free to PM me if you have any other questions.