Domestic Wells A Buyer’s & Seller’s Guide First American Title Insurance Company of Oregon Created by Tod Hunt, Regional Marketing Manager Education Program Director Jackson & Josephine Counties First American Title Insurance Company of Oregon Medford, Oregon January 2006 Table of Contents Groundwater Sources pp 1-3 Groundwater Statistics pp 1-2 Groundwater Hydrology pp 4-6 The Water Code—Exempt Uses p 7 Locating Groundwater pp 8-9 Water Well Logs p 8 Water Witching p 9 Installing a New Well pp 9-18 Well Construction Standards pp 11– 13 Well Types & Components p 14-17 Water Pressure p 18 Water Quantity pp 19-20 Water Quality pp 21-58 Testing For Minerals & Impurities pp 28-34 Water Hardness pp 35-38 Water Chemistry Summary pp 40-41 Filtration Systems pp 42-58 Carbon Filters pp 42-43 Sediment Filters p 44 Reverse Osmosis pp 45-47 UV Filters pp 48 Hydrogen Sulfide Filtration pp 49-51 Iron & Manganese Filters pp 52-53 Iron Bacteria Treatment pp 54-55 Acidic Water Treatment pp 56-57 Nitrate Filtration p 58 Declining Water Resources pp 59-66 Well Rehabilitation pp 60-62 Hydrofracturing pp 61-62 Well Troubleshooting pp 63-66 Well Abandonment p 67 Well Sharing p 68 Well ID Program p 68 Jackson County Water & Well Contractors p 69 Josephine County Water & Well Contractors p 70 Well Flow Sample Report p 71 Top 20 Analysis Sample Report p 72 Index P 73 Acknowledgments p 74 DOMESTIC WELLS OregonWater Water Sources Laws Private Water Wells According to a 2001 independent market survey sponsored by the National Ground Water Association (NGWA), 78 percent of private water well owners prefer receiving their drinking water from their own well. That’s as strong a customer satisfaction statement as can be found in any industry and a true and reverent testament to Mother Nature. Eighty-eight percent of those surveyed said private wells were their least expensive drinking water option. Private water wells also allow consumers to take more control of their water quality. Well owners can take steps to protect their ground water from contaminants and can hire trained professionals to conduct regular maintenance checks and water quality tests. Ground water is a significant water supply source. The amount of ground water storage dwarfs our present surface water supply. At any given moment it is 20 to 30 times greater than the amount in all the lakes, streams, and rivers of the United States. Ground water is also an important source of surface water. It also adds about 492 billion gallons per day to U.S. surface water bodies. Its contribution to the overall flow of rivers and streams in the U.S. may be as large as 50 percent, and it is a major source of water for lakes and wetlands. The Great Lakes are the largest system of fresh surface water on earth, containing roughly 18% of the world’s supply. Ground Water Supply Ground water is tapped through wells placed in water-bearing soils and rocks beneath the surface of the earth. Of the total 341 billion gallons of fresh water the United States withdraws each day, ground water is estimated to be 76.4 billion gallons, or 22 percent. There are nearly16 million water wells in the U.S. supplying ground water for public supply, private supply, irrigation, livestock, manufacturing, mining, thermoelectric power, and other purposes. The National Ground Water Association has determined that 47 percent of the U.S. population depends on ground water for its drinking water supply from either a public source or private well. In the Asia-Pacific region, 32 percent of the population is ground water dependent; in Europe, 75 percent; in Latin America, 29 percent; and in Australia, 15 percent. There are 282,828 public supply wells in the United States. These are wells for public distribution systems. In comparison, there are 15.1 million individual households served by private wells. Approximately 800,000 boreholes are drilled in the U.S. annually. The construction of these vitally needed water supply systems involves the use of more than 19,000 drilling rigs by an estimated 8,000 ground water contracting firms. The U.S. is the largest water well market in the world: ● United States—15.9 million wells ● China—3.4 million ● India—12.3 million ● Germany and South Africa—500,000 each FIRST AMERICAN TITLE 1 DOMESTIC WELLS GroundwaterOregonWater Water Sources Sources Laws Private household wells constitute the largest share of all water wells in the U.S. Other kinds of wells are used for municipal systems, industry, agriculture, and water quality monitoring. Michigan, with 1,121,075 households served by private water wells, is the largest state market, followed by: ● Pennsylvania—978,202 households ● North Carolina—912,113 ● New York—824,342 ● Florida—794,557 Irrigation accounts for the largest use of ground water in the U.S.—49 billion gallons. Texas leads the nation in the number of irrigation wells with 122,000. Other leading irrigation well states are: ● Nebraska—80,000 irrigation wells ● Arkansas—37,300 ● California—71,554 ● Colorado—23,000 ● Florida 59,150 ● Kansas—22,462 Water is an integral part of life on this planet. It is an odorless, tasteless, substance that covers more than three-fourths of the Earth's surface. Most of the water on Earth, 97% to be exact, is salt water found in the oceans. We can not drink salt water or use it for crops because of the salt content. We can remove salt from ocean water, but the process is very expensive. Only about 3% of Earth's water is fresh. Two percent of the Earth's water (about 66% of all fresh water) is in solid form, found in ice caps and glaciers. Because it is frozen and so far away, the fresh water in ice caps is not available for use by people or plants. That leaves about 1% of all the Earth's water in a form useable to humans and land animals. This fresh water is found in lakes, rivers, streams, ponds, and in the ground. (A small amount of water is found as vapor in the atmosphere.) The Water Cycle Water is constantly being cycled between the atmosphere, the ocean and land. This cycling is a very important process that helps sustain life on Earth. Precipitation, evaporation, and transpiration are all terms that sound familiar, yet may not mean much to you. They are all part of the water cycle. As the water evaporates, vapors rise and condense into clouds. The clouds move over the land, and precipitation falls in the form of rain, ice or snow. The water fills streams and rivers, and eventually flows back into the oceans where evaporation starts the process anew. FIRST AMERICAN TITLE 2 DOMESTIC WELLS GroundwaterOregonWater Water Sources Sources Laws Origins of Groundwater Groundwater originates as rainfall or melting snow that seeps or infiltrates into the ground. The amount of water that is absorbed into the ground varies widely depending on the quality of the land surface that is present. In surface material such as sand or gravel, as much as 40 to 50 percent of the rain and snow melt may seep into the ground. Seepage into material like clay, can range from 5 to 20 percent. The remainder of the precipitation moves into streams as runoff or returns to the atmosphere through evaporation. The volume of precipitation that soaks into the ground is also strongly affected by the season of the year. During warm months, water is more likely to be lost through evaporation, and transpiration— evaporation through plant leaves. During cold months, the ground may be saturated with rain or even frozen, resulting in increased run off. Rain and snow melt that seeps into the ground continues downward under the force of gravity until it reaches a depth where water fills all of the openings (pores) in the soil or rock. This is called the saturated zone. The saturated zone typically includes numerous water-filled crevices in the upper layer of bedrock. Deeper bedrock layers may have few or no crevices where water can penetrate. The top of the saturated zone is called the water table. The water table rises and falls according to the amount of rain and snow melt that falls, the season of the year and the volume of groundwater removed through pumping. It is typically higher in early spring and lower in late summer. Heavy rainfall or drought conditions may significantly alter the typical pattern, however. land surface unsaturated zone saturated zone water table surface water ground water Water (not ground water) held by molecular gravel Creviced rock attraction surrounds surfaces of rock particles air air Approximate level of the water table All openings below water table full of ground water FIRST AMERICAN TITLE 3 DOMESTIC WELLS GroundwaterOregonWater Water Sources Hydrology Laws A zone is usually present between the water table and the land surface where the openings, or pores, in the soil are only partially filled with water. This is the unsaturated zone. Water seeps downward through it to the water table below. Plant roots can capture the moisture passing through this zone, but it cannot provide water for wells. Groundwater Hydrology The quality and quantity of a well’s output gravel sand clay rock depends a lot on the specific geologic formations in which the water lies. Permeability Permeability is critical for water supply purposes. Permeability is the measure of a rock’s capability to transmit liquid through specific yield / drainage it's pore spaces. How fast water will flow rapid moderate slow none through openings or pores in soil or rock depends greatly on the qualities of the soil substrate.