artesian wells-worth it?

[the simple life]

Anyone have any experience with these?
I have the old orginal well in the backyard from way back when.
I would like to put it back into working order. There is no pump or anything like that, they use to just use the buckets.
I am assuming I wouldn't have far to dig either since they had water there at one time.
Now, here is the thing, an artesian well is a huge investment, very expensive and I am not sure if its worth it.
I would not be doing it right now if at all, but just trying to figure out how much better they are than your typical well with an electric pump would be.
I believe you can drink this water and do just whatever you need with it. Which in the long run would save me a ton of money.
Water is very expensive in my town and I pay over $2000.00 a year for it. Most of it goes towards the sewer bill, they charge you for sewarge fees even if you aren't using the sewar system.
Say you want to water your garden or fill the kiddie pool, they base your sewerage fees on your water usage.
I have a huge problem with this.
So anyway, weighing my options, would love some input.

 

[FarmerChick]

A well 'goes artesian' when the water pressure underground and the water table combined is sufficient to raise the water out of the ground without the aid of man made pumps.

It is not something you can engineer. It's all luck and probabilities.

****So this is what I found on the internet. Not alot of knowledge in this at all but I would truly speak with a well contractor and find out your options. My well cost about $3000 15 years ago and has paid for itself over and over without that water bill...LOL

I love my well and the water is fab. But if you do get water, be sure to have it tested...something you never want to gamble on if you or animals drink it.

 

[unclejoe]

We still use ours. Someone at one time put a cement pad over it with a "door" to access it. Near as we can tell it was hand dug when the house was built about 130yrs ago. It's about 5' in diameter and 35'-40' deep The water starts at about 20' so we have 15'-20' of water. It's hand laid stone, no mortar holding anything in place. There is a pump about 3' from the bottom that we had to replace about 3 yrs ago. We also have a hand pump. You can look down in and see the water rippling so there must be a good spring down there. If yours is dry it may be that the water table has dropped over the years as the population in your area has grown and more demand is put on the groundwater supply. We only have 6 houses within 1/2 mile of us so I guess ours isn't overtaxed. Right before we replaced the pump our son turned on the water to fill the horse trough and forgot about it. It ran all day. About 9 hours. We think that's what killed the pump.
As far as yours goes, you might be able to get a well drilling co. to come out and poke a hole into the bottom of yours to find out how far down the water actually is. Or you could climb down in and start digging yourself. The water is there but who knows how far down?

 

[patandchickens]

Do you specifically mean you have a REAL artesian well, as in, the water underground is under pressure such that if the well is uncapped it flows up and 'fountains' out the top until you slap a valve or regulator onto it?

I have never lived with one but have hung around properties that had one (it is a fairly rare local phenomenon - you can't make one happen, the land either has it or not) and I gather they are terrific once you buy (and periodically repair) the regulator that is needed to control/shut off hte pressure. Because the water comes out at ground level *already* pressurized you would never need a well pump or electricity - you just hook up your house plumbing to the regulator-controlled well output and voila.

Since you mention they used buckets, though, I am wondering whether you really mean 'artesian' or simply 'a well with no pump so they raised the water up in buckets by hand'?

(edited to add: rereading your post I see that the well is apparently now dry. This pretty much proves it is not an actual artesian well, unless someone managed to thoroughly cap and then bury it, or some such thing)

If it *is* a true artesian well, then it just comes down to what would be the cost of recommissioning it and whether the water is really truly totally potable and uncontaminated. And then think about how many years of water/sewer fees it would take to break even. At $2000/yr I would think 'not long' unless it is quite a deep aquifer and would need basically drilling a whole new well.

Good luck,

Pat

 

[the simple life]

Thanks for all the input everyone. I am pretty much going by what neighbors have told me about what they know about my property and the wells they have in their yards.
Most of the people on this street grew up here and stayed, it seems everyone has a story about this place.
It came up recently about how I should get the well going and someone said that you could have a contractor come out and put in the artesian well, and I only remember bits and pieces about what they were saying but they mentioned drilling below bedrock and a few other terms. I should have been trying to listen better but my neighbors had the kids over and they were chasing after my chickens and I was distracted. Then when I started giving it some thought I wasn't sure what it was all about.
I figured someone here would know something about them, and I was right.
I appreciate the advice. I will look into it.
I figured if I already have a well in the yard, it shouldn't cost that much to get it going just to be able to water plants and stuff. Its really criminal what they charge for water usage here, and we aren't wasteful with it either.
I use rainbarrels, it saves a little but I think I will have some type of well by next spring.

 

[FarmerChick]

Natalie--even if your well "can't be revived" or something, you seriously should consider a deep bored well.....even if $6K or so....the savings long term are super worth it if you water usage price is outrageous. Good investment actually!

But, key being, are you staying in the house? No use drilling a new well if you are moving anytime soon. You miss the benefits.....just something to consider.