2019 Spring Home & Garden

2019 SPRING HOME & GARDEN LINCOLN DAILY NEWS MAY 2, 2019 PAGE 31 CONTINUED u water comes out of the drilled hole under great pressure, and can cause damage to equipment, injury to operators, and will cause the sides of the drilled well to collapse, and the whole project to be shut down and moved to a new spot. Well drilling is not for the inexperienced or faint of heart. Video of inserting well casing Once the drilled hole has reached the final depth and been reamed to a size larger than the casing of the well, the rods and bits are removed and the operation shifts to the insertion and sealing of the casing. The casing is a large pipe (they use heavy plastic pipe these days instead of cast iron or steel to prevent corrosion). The casing is usually five or six inches wide to accommodate the appropriate in-well pump. The casing has fine mesh of stainless steel on the bottom, closing off the bottom of well. The mesh allows the water to rise up in the casing, but does not allow the larger particulates to enter the well. Section after section of this plastic casing is cemented together, lowered by machine down into the drilled well, until it is fitted into the bottom of the hole. After the casing is seated, the operators seal the hole around the casing with fine powdered bentonite clay which mixes with water and expands at a rate of 12:1. The clay seals the hole around the pipe to keep surface water from entering the well space. Once the casing is sealed, the drilling process is complete. The crew will use the drilling machine to pump the water from the casing at a high rate until the water runs clean, and then they will chlorinate the well and temporarily seal the top. The big machines then drive off into the sunset and it is time for the finishing crew to come. In a drilled well of a hundred foot depth, it is common to have the pressure of the ground cause the water to rise up in the well casing to eight to 10 feet from the top of the casing (about a ninety foot column of water). Your well should provide a high level of replenishment of water to meet the needs of your household The finishing crew will install an in-well pump at a depth which gets the best quality and quantity of water. The pump is connected to electricity, and to piping lowered to the depth and connected to a device called the pitless adapter located down in the casing below the frost line. The casing is capped, and the well is complete.