Higher and Deeper

The earthquake, occurring in the first hour of July 26, 2017, registered a magnitude 5.8.  The epicenter for the earthquake was less than 10 miles from my cabin near Lincoln and some 40 miles or so my house.

At my cabin, the tremors split in two a 4-inch plumbing pipe and cracked some of my exterior siding.

Here at the house, the shivering and rumbling earth shook me fully away and jostled the blinds in the windows like water in a briskly shaken drink tumbler.  At daylight, I found cracks splayed across the concrete apron in front of the garage and cracks in my exterior brick veneer.

Deeper underground, something shifted in the aquifer.

Water has always been fickle out here.  One neighbor punched 400 feet into the ground and tapped into a mere 2 gallons per minute.  My well reached down 220 feet and produced only 5 gallons per minute.  No more than 50 yards away, a neighboring well produces 20 gallons per minute at a depth of 120 feet.

And there is bad water not far from my well.

Thing is, my starting point of 5 gallons per minute was not enough water for me to run sprinklers outside for any length of time.  I could actually pump my well dry.  Over the years, I got a feel for how much water I could use without drawing down too far.  A houseful of people linking together showers along with running the clothes washer might be a problem.  I had to give the well a pause after filling my hot tub.

After the quake, the well produced less water.

My well is some 800 feet from my house (a long story, that) and 75 feet lower on the hill upon which I am located.  I debated a fix involving a storage cistern and a strict control system for my pump, but that still leaves me stranded with a limited water supply.

Today, a well driller will arrive sometime after sunrise to set up his rig and punch a new well higher on the hill and much closer to my house.  I am quite certain we will be going much deeper, too.  I am willing to reach down 300 feet, but I may stop there if we are still dry at that depth.

A dry well at that depth will cost me over $4,500.00

I am not much for gambling.  I have not risked a dime on any of my last three visits to Las Vegas.

Today, I gamble.

—Mitchell Hegman