If you’re not familiar with wells, it’s a good question.
Hmmmm…..1/2 gallon per minute – Do you imagine trying to make a gallon of lemonade and having to wait a whole minute for the well to deliver a gallon of water? Were you thinking ‘How in the heck am I going to take a shower’, or, gee- at that rate….it’s going to take FOREVER to fill the washing machine!! ?
DO NOT WORRY!
You simply forgot to consider the amount of water that’s stored in the well pipe!
This particular well is 400 feet deep, and the static level is 75 feet. OK, let’s calculate, 400 -75 = 325. Leaving 325 feet of water in the well pipe that is ready for your use.
A normal 6” diameter pipe holds about 1.469 gallons per foot. You can do the exact math to determine the volume of the pipe by taking the radius of the pipe squared, multiply by pi, and multiply that by the height of the water column in inches- (then you know the number of cubic inches of water in well)
Then, convert the cubic inches to gallons by multiplying the volume by .00432
OR
Get a good estimate by multiplying the number of feet by 1.469, which is whole lot easier!
So for 325 feet of water, we have approximately 477 gallons of water to use, immediately. Now if for some bizarre and unknown reason you used all that water in one day. After eight hours of sleep, you already have 240 more gallons in the well, and it continues to replenish the well pipe at the rate of .5 gallons per minute, or 30 gallons per hour.
In our area, where many water wells are limited to household use only (not irrigation), this well should be more than adequate. You can always consult a licensed well tester to test the current well production also, because the State records indicate the pump rate at the time the well pump was originally installed. It’s a good question to ask about the water, so now you know!
Mary Douglas, your Mountain Broker-Associate and REALTOR®
United Country Ponderosa Realty, Red Feather Lakes, CO
www.marydouglas-redfeatherlakes.net