Well well well

[SaligoBay]

Made the mistake of inviting a Chinese Parisian colleague of Mr SB round one evening.  I thought he might be interesting, being from China and all that, but all he talked about was money money money money money.   How much did you pay for that, you could have got that cheaper, you have to do this, you shouldn't do that, it was soooooo tedious, and he was one of the few guests that I was REALLY glad to see the back of.  And Mr SB is NOT allowed to invite him again!

Anyway, one of the things he said was that we shouldn't pay for water, we should dig a well.

I've been wondering about this.  My first thought is that if was legal or possible, everyone around would have done it, because water's expensive, but I don't know anyone here with a well.  

How do you find out your local water-table levels, or whatever it is you need to know?   Would you need planning permission, or would you just get on and do it?

And how do you do it anyway?   Oooohhhhh, it's all very scary!  [*-)]

[Tresco]

SB, after being here for nearly 2 years, we were let into the (open) secret that there is a spring. I can't remember the word for it, but people come from Miles to get their water, which has travelled from the Massive Central all the way to Charente Maritime.

Sorry, that's the best I can do.

I wouldn't want to be digging a well myself, and believe me, it would be ME that had to dig it. No doubt there is an expert water finding person who is a member who can give you more practical advice.

[TWINKLE]

[quote user="Tresco"]

SB, after being here for nearly 2 years, we were let into the (open) secret that there is a spring. I can't remember the word for it, but people come from Miles to get their water, which has travelled from the Massive Central all the way to Charente Maritime.

Sorry, that's the best I can do.

I wouldn't want to be digging a well myself, and believe me, it would be ME that had to dig it. No doubt there is an expert water finding person who is a member who can give you more practical advice.

[/quote]

Source, sweetie!

[Tresco]

Oh Gdo, that is so embarrassing. 

But still, the water from the shop is fine unless by accident you buy the one full of salt, like I did.

 

 

[Dick Smith]

"SB, after being here for nearly 2 years, we were let into the (open) secret that there is a spring."

Umm, you aren't bossu by any chance? Breeding rabbits?

[0zeb100ddMMyyyy0Falseen-USTrue]

Hello

You get a sourcier (usually some old geezer) to wonder about with a forked twig until it starts to wiggle about and he becomes kind of excited (I suppose you could diy) then you start to dig or drill untill you reach water. Then the government stick you a tax bill at the end of it.

Have a nice day y'all

Jim

[Moorejw]

We are very fortunate to have a well which does not dry up even in last year's drought. There is also a source in our village and every house has a right of access to the water. Last year our neighbour had a new well sunk in his gardin for the potager. He hired a sourcier who used a watch (!) to divine where the water was and for about 400 euros he got a new well1!

[andyh4]

As a scientist I can tell you that all this rubbish about water divining has absolutely no basis in fact.

As someone who has actually tried to do it I can only say *****cks to the science - it works!

 

All you need is 2 bits of wire coat hanger bent into an L shape.  Hold loosely one in each hand with the long bit of the L sticking out horizontally.  Walk around and see if the wires move.  If they cross over you have either found the site for your well or you have foound the water main.

[Clair]

[quote user="andyh4"]As a scientist I can tell you that all this rubbish about water divining has absolutely no basis in fact. As someone who has actually tried to do it I can only say *****cks to the science - it works! All you need is 2 bits of wire coat hanger bent into an L shape.  Hold

loosely one in each hand with the long bit of the L sticking out

horizontally.  Walk around and see if the wires move.  If they cross

over you have either found the site for your well or you have foound

the water main. [/quote]

I did it too when I was a child. Friends of my parents needed a well dug, they called a sourcier who did his bit. I was intrigued and asked to try: holding an inverted Y-shaped length of metal, I walked over a concrete slabe and the "tail" of the metal vibrated. I thought I'd struck water, but it was only a pipe!

[Pixietoadstool]

I was actually taught to do this by an employee of Thames Water who was trying to find the water supply at the front of our property - he even let me keep his rods (which you can buy on-line from Hawkins Bazaar by the way).  Clair is right in that the rods/coat hanger detect a change in the underlying material - we also identified a buried car and a buried hot water boiler in our drive using the rods!!  When they cross it means that the substrate or whatever has changed - could be water - could be something else.

When we bought our French house the notaire made it a condition of the purchase that we have mains water installed - she said it was a government ruling that all house were being brought onto mains water.  So we don't have access to the spring anymore since it is on our neighbour's land.  I suppose we could dig another one though.  However, there's not much shortage of water in Normandie d'habitude!!

Valerie

[Tresco]

"SB, after being here for nearly 2 years, we were let into the (open) secret that there is a spring."

"Umm, you aren't bossu by any chance"? Breeding rabbits?

Dick, you know I usually rire comme un bossu (une bossue) at your jokes but I am defeated by this one.

[IMG]http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i76/twinm/tinybunny.jpg[/IMG]

[SaligoBay]

Would "Gérard Dépardieu" help you, Tresco?

 

[Tresco]

That's twice I've been  mortified in one thread! 

Jean de Flipping Florette (thank you Dick for letting me know).

But SB, saying Gérard Dépardieu wasn't the best clue. He's in everything.

 

[Debra]

I believe you need permission.  We got permission to sink a borehole on our leisure land to supply the water for the block sanitaire we also got permission for.  We understand they just drill down until they hit the water hole and in our case we were told it would be at about 5 metres.

[Gastines]

Make sure it's H2O and not H2SO4, as my chemistry teacher used to tell me.

Regards.B&B St.Malo

[The Riff-Raff Element]

[quote user="andyh4"]

As a scientist I can tell you that all this rubbish about water divining has absolutely no basis in fact.

As someone who has actually tried to do it I can only say *****cks to the science - it works!

 [/quote]

Having seen a this done I agree. We had a borehole drilled for

filling a pool and watering purposes a couple of years back (I don't

think tax is payable unless the water is piped into the home -

certainly we've never had a bill, though each year we have to fill in a

form confirming that the water is not being used for domestic supply).

We booked in a drilling crew who told us to get a diviner to mark a

spot. A local farmer gave us the name of a gentleman who did this. He

appeared a the next day with a forked stick that gyrated quite

alarmingly once he located an underground stream that ran across the

property. Once we'd agreed a suitable corner, he marked it with a small

pile of stones. He told us that the water was between 30 and 35 meters.

A few days later, the drilling crew arrived to sink the pipe...and hit water at 33m. I have no idea how this works.

[SaligoBay]

Did you have to get permission for the borehole, jond?

What kind of digger are you talking about?   A big tractor sort of roadworks digger? 

A borehole sounds narrow.   How wide is the hole?

Oh yes, and what kind of price for the whole thing, start to finish, including the witch doctor?

Merci!

[Miki]

"...Jean de Flipping Florette"

I always preferred the next one, Manon des blinking Sources.

[Miki]

".....A few days later, the drilling crew arrived to sink the pipe...and hit water at 33m. I have no idea how this works"

Mirrors ?

[SaligoBay]

[quote user="Miki"]"...Jean de Flipping Florette"

I always preferred the next one, Manon des blinking Sources.

[/quote]

Okay, where's that rolling-on-the-floor-laffing smiley?  

OMG, I just rolled on it!  [:O]

[The Riff-Raff Element]

[quote user="SaligoBay"]

Did you have to get permission for the borehole, jond?

What kind of digger are you talking about?   A big tractor sort of roadworks digger? 

A borehole sounds narrow.   How wide is the hole?

Oh yes, and what kind of price for the whole thing, start to finish, including the witch doctor?

Merci!

[/quote]

Oddly, it is one of the few things that we didn't need permission for -

we enquired, but were told that this was one of the very few exceptions

to the rule that permission is required for everything. As I mentioned,

we had to fill in a form to say whether or not we were using the water

in the house. This might vary from place to place of course.

The device used is quote curious. It's a drilling robot on catapiller

tracks (which means it get into all kinds of corners). It's just like

drilling for oil: the drill enters the ground in lengths of about 3m,

each length being clamped to the last as the drill goes deeper. Once

the hole is completed, the drill comes out, and the hole is lined with

plastic pipes ("casing"), the lowest of which was perforated to allow

water in.

The borehole we've got is 15cm wide. A thin downhole pump gets lowered

into the hole. The size (length) of the pump and price will depend on

the depth of the hole and what kind of flow you want. We had to supply

and install the pump (but it's not rocket science); the one we ended up

with could pump from down to 100m, so it a big oversized, but it can

move 1500 litres per hour, which is very useful for filling a pool, but

makes watering the garden an interesting experience. Cost was about

450€ for the pump and associated odds and sods, though for various

reasons we got a fairly hefty discount.

The cost of the hole works out at around 20€ per meter depth, so in

total the cost including the pump was a little over 1000€ We're on

limestone, so it might be more expensive on, say, granite. The diviner

is usually rewarded with a couple of bottles of something to give

enlightenment. The whole job took about 3 hours. It does make a bit of

a mess, but it's mostly fine powder that can be washed away.

Based on what we pay for SAUR, the payback period will be about 4 years.

Hope this helps.

[SaligoBay]

Yes, it does.  Thank you very much. [:)]

[Clair]

[quote user="SaligoBay"][]we should dig a well. My first thought is that if was legal or possible, everyone around would have done it, because water's expensive, but I don't know anyone here with a well. How do you find out your local water-table levels, or whatever it is

you need to know?   Would you need planning permission, or would you

just get on and do it?And how do you do it anyway?[/quote]

Hi SB

Found this official page (in French, but I know you read it well!)

http://vosdroits.service-public.fr/particuliers/F172.xhtml?&n=Environnement&l=N7&n=L'eau&l=N82

[Dick Smith]

If the borehole hit water at 33m it wasn't an underground stream, was it, it was the water table! Anyone can tell you where that is...

[SaligoBay]

[quote user="Clair"]Hi SB
Found this official page (in French, but I know you read it well!)
http://vosdroits.service-public.fr/particuliers/F172.xhtml?&n=Environnement&l=N7&n=L'eau&l=N82
[/quote]

Thank you, Clair.  

I suspect this area might come under les zones de ressource insuffisante.   OTOH, looking at the cost from jond, that too would explain why no-one round here has a well!   Difficult to get machinery into a lot of these properties too.