WELL CONSTRUCTION

Water Well Construction in Santa Barbara, California

Water Quality Testing — Digging Wells in Santa Barbara, CA

Well Location

When deciding on where to install your well, there are some criteria that must be met. The exact location of the water well must fit the following criteria:

Different counties and townships may have additional requirements): At least 100 feet from any existing or potential septic tank, leach field and/or pit privy and 50 from sewer laterals
100 from livestock area: corrals, pens, dog-runs, barns, etc.
At minimum of 50 feet from any creek and/or tributary
At least 12 feet away from any overhead electrical wiring
Away from underground utilities: telephone, gas, water, electrical, etc.
In a location where drill cuttings will not flow onto a neighbor's property, or into any storm drains, creeks, tributaries and/or conduits to waterways
It is the customer responsibility to check for easements and underground pipelines. We usually recommend that the well is placed at least ten feet from the customer's property line to provide for future access.
The exact location of the water well will be chosen by the geologist. If requested, Cascade Well & Pump Co. will provide the customer with the names of local geologists who may be of assistance in locating a site for the water well.
We require a minimum 20 x 40 semi-level pad for our drilling equipment. The site must also be free from overhead trees and limbs and accessible for drill equipment, piping and maintenance. The road entering the site must be at least nine feet wide and have a clearance of fourteen feet for our equipment to enter the property, bridges entering the site will also be checked for weight capacities. We often tell customers that if a cement truck can get into the site, then so can we. You may also want to consider that the well will eventually require electricity and piping and will need to be accessible for servicing in the future.

LOGGING

Logging is the record of the geology encountered while drilling the water well. Logs are also used by Geologist and Engineers in the design phase of the well. Logging is generally taken in two forms;

A Drillers Log written by the driller
E-log which is performed after the borehole has been drilled.
Drillers Log: Drillers log of formations and/or water bearing strata encountered

FILTER PACK

The filter pack is the material deposited in the annular space between the borehole and the casing and is typically referred to as a gravel pack or sand pack. The filter pack is inserted via free fall or tremie pipe and serves two main purposes; 1) To filter water as it enters the well and 2) Suspend the sanitary surface seal.