Home Happenings...Water Well Solution?

Happy Belated Canada Day and Happy Belated Independence Day Friends!!

Alex and I finally had our Canada Day dinner! Watermelon and Feta skewers with strawberry-Goat cheese toasts on a layer of peach jam. Very delicious! I had a strawberry shortcake planned but we were so full, we're going to have that for dessert tonight. The strawberries are local and SO GOOD. I hope you all have a chance to get some local berries this time of year!

Fun news, I finally got my New Brunswick plates and license! I feel really at home now. I think Alex and I are going to toss the old Quebec plates into our burn barrel lol...

On my way to get my plates, there was some excitement. A young bull was loose on the road. There were many cars stopped, trying to help the wayward cow get into the pasture but it was really resisting. I was just about to get out and help when the bull ran my way, sideswiped the car and pushed in my driver's side mirror. Honestly, I was a little frozen with fear! Cows are BIG critters!! I decided at that point, best to leave this to people who know what they're doing! (No damage to the car, the mirror bounced back!)

So...here's the deal with the well. Firstly I had a MAJOR pity party because a few days ago, we totally ran out of water for 6 hours. I ended up calling 4 well-drilling companies and one referred me to a farm supply store because I'd mentioned I couldn't afford to drill a well, and was thinking of water storage as an option. I spoke with a really nice man named Dave who is a plumber and finds water solutions for the local dairy farms.

Dave dropped by the other day for an inspection, which he didn't even charge us for. He told us that our jet pump only has the capacity to pull water from a well that has water at a depth of 25 feet (maybe even less because the pump is so old). When the water table falls below 25 feet, our damn jet pump can't reach it. It takes 2-4 hours on a good day for the water table to rise back up to the 25 foot mark so the pump can bring us water. And trust me, it's not a lot of water when the water table comes back. Dave definitely suggested a submersible pump, which sits at the bottom of the well and works much more efficiently than a jet pump.

So...knowing that, Dave said we had three options:

1. Dig a deeper well if our well was indeed only about 25 feet deep ($5000 - $12000). not an option

2. Install a submersible water pump as deep as the well goes so that we have a good amount of water all of the time EVEN WHEN the water tables are lower - but only if our well is at least 50 feet deep ($1500). ideal option

3. Install a submersible pump as deep as the well goes AND install a water holding tank for water storage IF our well is only say, 30 feet deep. We'd have to have water delivered a few times during the summer ($3000 - $5000). not such an ideal option

Yesterday we were weighing our options and budget when suddenly we ran out of water completely. We waited 8 hours, still no water. We called Dave and he came over this morning. He ran his 50-foot pipe down the well and it didn't hit bottom. I nearly cried with relief.

But...Dave thinks that it's deeper than 50 feet which is amazing news. The deeper the well, the more water is available; but he'll come back tomorrow with a new submersible pump and his "well snake" to find out just how deep our well has been drilled down. So it looks like we are going for our ideal solution #2. We should have water again tomorrow unless a dairy farm has an emergency. The farms are his priority and we are very okay with that. The animals need water too!

With a submersible pump we will already be doubling (or more) our water supply and we won't have to wait hours for the water table to return up to the level where our current LOUD jet pump can reach. Seriously folks, if you want to just play the above video for a few seconds, you'll hear what we hear about 10 times a day (the noise starts at 6 seconds into the video). Mind you, the pump is in the basement, but we can really hear it. A submersible pump...we won't hear it at all.

Dave is just like our realtor Bill. In fact, we said "he's a Bill"...so helpful, trying to find us workaround inexpensive solutions...he even brought us 15 gallons of drinking water today "no charge, just want to help you folks out". I feel blessed.

I had plans to go blog-hopping and create my art date pieces today, but instead, Alex and I have to dig a trench from the well to the house for the electrical wires for our new submersible pump.

Our next challenge is our new washing machine that seems to be broken, ugh...I'll keep that story for next Sunday! Chin up Rain...things are looking up! 😊😊😊😊😊