…it’s a deep subject.

To make the lot livable, we’ll need water. Without water, it has no value.

It has a well, 300 feet deep in our case. And, after some additional revelations, it’s probable that we’ll need to:

1. blow out the silt and sediment in the existing well: cheapest monetarily, but still requires, minimally, tearing down the pump house, $5K; OR
2. drill the existing well another 50 to 100 feet deep, $12K; OR
3. drill an entirely new well. Upwards of $30K

Now it gets even more expensive. The original cost estimate was in the neighborhood for $1500 of parts and labor. Minimally, add a zero.

Unfortunately, it’s abundantly clear that the previous owners did little to care for or make things last, so the value of the existing infrastructure now is a liability, not an asset.

I’ve heard from a few nearby land owners that their wells are anywhere between 150 and 300 feet. One neighboring house, quite close to ours, is bored to 377ft.

Right, so what’s the depth to the actual aquifer in the region? The driller said, “There’s no aquifer in that area”. Yet, checking over the maps from the USGS, it would tend to indicate that the Grande Ronde aquifer lies closer to 400ft below the surface. We’re on the northeast fringe area of the aquifer.

Knowing that the well-report for our well is 300ft deep, and judging from the available evidence, the previous owners drilled 300ft deep wells, twice, and one of them had removed the pump at some point and had added a cistern. Presumably because the well wasn’t producing as much as they required and the cistern served a means of kicking the proverbial can down the road.

Where does that leave us presently?

I don’t like the idea of just doing things ‘good enough’ and will always leave things in a better condition than when we arrived.

Have the existing well bored another 100ft? Or have a new well drilled to 400ft? They’re both expensive — one more than the other — but we’ll have to find a way to make the cost work.

Insert heavy sigh and deep thought here. 🤔