How do I drill a well on my land in 2021?

Here is an answer from an experienced Arkansas land investor who has helped people sell land and purchase land. He has also helped people connect with well drillers to put a well on their newly purchased land: 

Water plays many important roles in the body including flushing waste from the body, regulating body temperature, transportation of nutrients and is necessary for digestion. No wonder it is considered “essential” Plain water is the best choice for hydrating the body. Wells are extremely important to all societies. In many places wells provide a reliable and ample supply of water for home uses, irrigation, and industries. Where surface water is scarce, such as in deserts, people couldn’t survive and thrive without groundwater, and people use wells to get at underground water. Those residences that are not served by a public water system need a source of water for both consumption and daily needs. A private well most often fulfills these needs. While the cost of drilling a well is not a huge expense in the overall purchase or building of a home, it is a necessary expense to provide the residence with a usable water supply and it adds value to the property.

To those of you asking whether it’s practical to drill your own well, the answer is a definite maybe with the right tool and a little determination. Many people considered buying a portable, or one-person machine while drilling their own water wells, however many folks act out on fantasies. The question here is, can a man do it alone without the help of machinery? Drilling water is definitely expensive. Drillers commonly charge by foot and they drill down far enough until the well produces a minimum of three to five gallons of water per minute is achieved. Preferably they would drill 15 or more gallons in a day per minute.  

According to Mother Earth’s News, drilling machinery is pricey, that its current prices if you buy all the equipment and casing one 100 foot well from Deep Rock ((excluding any special bits), you have to spend $1,304 or $13.04 a foot. However, the gear for every subsequent 100 feet — at the same or a new well site — costs only $286 for the extra stems and casing. (A single 200-foot well, then, would cost $1,590 in supplies, or $7.95 a foot.) The national average for professional drilling is about $10 to $12 a foot. Since the rate varies greatly (it’s as low as $3.00 a foot in parts of Florida, about six or seven bucks in our area, and as high as $42 or $49 in parts of California or Alaska), you’ll have to make price comparisons for yourself. In sum, they’d say that if you’ve made sure drilling conditions are favorable, if the cost of doing it yourself is competitive with commercial drilling charges (or if commercial drillers can’t make it onto your property), and if you have the necessary time and proper aptitude for the mechanical tasks involved, you may well want to drill your own well. 

Don’t hesitate to get multiple quotes when looking to hire a licensed water well contractor, it is really no different than shopping around for a home builder or a new car. If you’re not sure who to contact in your area, email the land investors over at Checklands.com. They have connections to well drillers all over the region.  If you choose to investigate this process on your own, make sure that you are comparing each contractor along the same criteria, this is where your list of water needs and getting a detailed bid comes into play. A qualified, licensed water well contractor should: be able to tell you if quality water is fairly easy to come by or is scarce in your area; be familiar with the geology and the static water level/water table in your area; be familiar with how deep nearby domestic wells are drilled and well yields; and know if there are any contaminants of concern in your area.

In Arkansas, there are protocols or rules that we need to follow when drilling or legally drill wells or install pumps such as any individual drilling a water well or installing a water well pump in Arkansas must possess both an Arkansas Water Well Contractor’s License and an Arkansas Certificate of Registration in Water Well Drilling or Pump Installation. An individual planning to both drill wells and install pumps must obtain both Certificates of Registration. To maintain your license, you must obtain 6 continuing education credits per year that have been approved by the Arkansas Water Well Construction Commission as meeting the Commission’s continuing education requirements. All drilling and/or pump installation must be done by a driller or pump installer who holds a valid Arkansas Registration who works for an Arkansas Licensed Contractor. 

You probably take water for granted because it is so common, but water is a very unusual substance. Its most spectacular property is that ice floats in water. You probably think that’s no big deal, but water is almost the only substance in the universe for which the solid floats in the liquid! Water is very unusual in several other ways as well. If you’re lucky and strike a plentiful supply of naturally pure water on your land, you’ll marvel at the taste of the clear elixir!

To learn more about the costs of installing a well or if you’d like to sell or buy land, connect with the land investors at Checklands.com