March 28, 2017

Here is the well that existed on the property at purchase. The water basin is on the right and the small square is the well itself. It is deep but unusually small.

A team of well specialists came to analyze my well water. They attached a pump to it and siffened the water. It had a good water flow but he suggested that the actual hole size should be widened.

I never knew this, but no matter how deep your well is, it will only fill to a certain height. So, the important factor is how wide it is, not how deep. Once you get water, that is all you need…but you want to make sure you will have enough to support a dwelling or hotel and even through dry season.

The team suggested they dig next to the existing well and when they get to the same depth, they will connect the two at the bottom. This will give me more surface area which means, more water. Eventually, I will have to buy a pump and reservoir to pump the well each day to fill the reservoir which will then service the dwelling.

Depending on how many people I need to supply water to, the reservoir size is chosen. I then must test how often I need to pump water from the well to the reservoir so that I never run dry.

Here is the well team. I chose to get a hand dug well as that is what existed. Some people opt for a machine dug well which is much more expensive. I am lucky because I knew already that my property had water. Many people buy property without a well and dig, and dig and no water ever comes. Now that is expensive!!!!

Two men took turns digging the well with a shovel and metal pole. One man held the belay which was attached to the bucket for dumping the dirt. When you hire a team of workers in a remote area, people camp out on-site. You must hire a team that comes with a cook that is cooking on-site and sleeping on site too. On average, most teams are paid by the job and not by the day.

My team dug a wide well about 1.5 meters wide. They then lined it half way down with concrete blocks. At the bottom, they connected the two wells. We tested the water and it is clear, clean to drink and pumps 55 gallons in 3 minutes.

The well digging process took longer than expected because the team hit pure rock half way down. I felt so bad for these guys! What hard workers!

These are the rocks that they were chipping out of the well! Eventually, they made it to sand, and the job was done. They cleaned the well out, and finished it with a smooth concrete wall and new basin. This basin will be used by my guard to collect water.

This is the neighbours dog who decided to guard our supplies and team the whole month we were there!

A lid was fastened on the basin and also on the well hole to keep clean and protected from mangoes dropping by the dozen and rotting inside.

A manual pump was attached to the lid of the old well opening and a plastic pipe fed down to the new well hole. The guard will use this as his main water source.

The locals said, that if the cow has come to drink and keeps coming back, that the water is clean! I like their theory….but I am still waiting for the lab for my test results! lol

xx – april