Our new well

Paul had to fill out an application for a well permit from the Arizona Department of Water Resources. Gary had gone over the forms with him, making the task easier. We eventually got the permit. Debbie Weber scheduled our drilling date. On the Tuesday after Thanksgiving the drilling rig showed up. It came with a water tank truck to supply water to the drill bits. The rig is truly an amazing machine. In about 24 hours, it drilled a 375-foot hole in the ground, inserted 375 feet of 6-inch steel casing pipe surrounded by 20 feet of 8-inch steel pipe at the top. The eight-inch pipe was surrounded with cement to make sure it doesn't go anywhere.

Water was first encountered at 290 feet, good for 5 gallons per minute. The second water was found at 315 feet, good for 10 gallons per minute. The crew flushed out all the drilling residue from the hole and tested the flow rate, getting 15 gallons per minute. They welded a steel cap on the casing and rushed off to help straighten out a well in nearby Sierra Vista in which the drilling had gone awry. Below is a picture of the drilling rig on our land.

A few days later, on December 8, 1999, Paul Oram, water resource specialist from the Basic Data Office of the Arizona Department of Water Resources showed up to check it out. He measured the static level (where the surface of the water sits in the casing) at 251.2 feet. He noted the location of the well with his GPS device. This data all goes into a public database maintained by his department. He told us that his department takes measurements of the static level in every well in the state every 5 years. Some of the local wells have shown a 5-foot drop in his recent measurements. Mr. Oram was impressed enough by our 6000-pound concrete Buffalo that he stood up on top of his truck to get a good photograph of it. He also took a photo of one of the two artists who created it.

Back in the 1880's when the big cattle ranches of the Sulphur Springs Valley were in their heyday, producing wells were about 25 to 60 feet deep. There has been a lot of water pumped out of the ground to irrigate crops since then. Big diesel-powered irrigation pumps are seen along the highways everywhere in the valley. Some of the bigger ones pump from wells that are 1000 feet deep. We can sustain a further drop of 125 feet in the water table before our well would go dry.

Paul ordered a solar-powered submersible pump to bring water up to the surface. He also ordered a pump controller, four 64-watt solar panels, and a Zomeworks tracking mount to keep the panels pointed at the sun. The panels were mounted on the tracker by the end of January, 2000. Arizona Wind and Sun, our main solar supplier, accidentally shipped the pump, the controller, and the flexible polyethylene (PE) pipe to our old address in Virginia rather than to our Arizona address. They were very gracious about correcting this error and re-routing the shpment. Eventually all the pieces arrived and all we needed was the electric wire. Gary Ingle consulted with us and we concluded that 300 feet would be the best level for the pump to hang. He ordered 320 feet of submersible electric cable. When it arrived, Paul rolled it out on the ground and measured it. It was only 274 feet. Gary ordered a replacement cable, which arrived on Friday, March 10 and measured 324 feet. Below is a picture of the solar panels for the well.

On Saturday, we attached the safety rope to the pump, then spliced the electric cable to it using a special underwater splicing kit. Then the 3/4 inch flexible pipe was attached to the pump. All three of these items were then attached 300 feet away on the desert floor to the 6-inch well cap Gary Ingle had provided. Every 10 feet, we wrapped tape around the three long components to hold them together. The weight of the pump is supposed to be born by the PE pipe, so we had to leave a little slack in the safety rope and the electric cable as we went. By the end of the day, we were finished. Beth went out to the end of the line and held the well cap in her hands as Paul and two friends inserted the pump into the well and began feeding the rope, cable and pipe into the casing. It only took five minutes to drop the pump down to the 300-foot level and put the well cap in place. By this time it was dark and there was no solar power, so we quit for the day.

By noon on Sunday, March 12, we had the electric wire into a junction box at the well head and spliced to a 35-foot underground feed wire from the controller over by the solar panels. There was a lot of suspense in the air as Paul flipped the switch to send solar electricity down to the pump. For about a minute nothing happened as the capacitors on the controller charged. Then there was a click at the controller and the well started humming as the pump started. About 2 minutes later, water began pouring out of the well cap onto the ground. We now had water on this piece of desert land!

After a couple days of pumping water into a hastily dug pond to let the rock dust from the drilling and the chlorine we had poured into the well after inserting the pump get pumped out, we attached the well output pipe to a 1000-gallon tank sitting next to the well head. The pump produces 1 to 2 gallons per minute when the sun is shining, so it can fill this tank in a day. Overflow water will go to the pond. The next step will be to run a 300-foot gravity feed pipe over to the utility building where a 24-volt pump will send it into a pressure tank. Then we will have high-pressure water just like city folks. Below is a picture of Paul pouring the concrete base for the 1000-gallon tank. The wellhead is visible on the right.

Already the presence of water on the land is having a very beneficial effect. It means we don't have to carry water in jugs from the rental duplex 16 miles away. It means that we can use water to soften the ground before digging trenches and pounding fence posts. It means that our Labrador Retriever can sit in the pond with only her shoulders and head out of the water, lapping up water with her tongue like a genteel matron relaxing on the patio sipping a Mint Julep. It means we can now start a garden and easily provide water for the poultry and our planned rabbits.

We were fortunate enough to find a neighbor who had a small backhoe and was willing to lend it to us to dig a trench from the water storage tank to the utility building. By March 26, we had a one-inch underground pipe bringing cool, fresh water to the Las Vigas building.

June 30, 2000 update: By the end of May we had completed the water pressure system with the pressure tank and pump installed along the north wall of the Las Vigas building next to the battery bank and the inverter which provides our electricity. An outside faucet with 3 hoses attached provides pressurized water to the travel trailer which serves as our dwelling while the house is being built. But before we build the house, we plan to finish the plumbing within the Las Vigas building, including toilet, shower, sink, and washing machine.