Can you save money on water? Where there’s a well, there’s a way.
Drillers from EDGE Solutions install a well.
ProvidedEDGE Solutions depths range from shallow — anywhere from 30 to 60 feet deep — to a deeper well, which can be several hundred feet deep.
At JP Anderson Well and Pump, shallow wells are anything less than 35 feet deep; intermediate wells are between 35 and 100 feet deep; and deep wells are as deep as they need to go to reach water, Anderson said.
McCrary said how ever deep they need to drill depends on where they reach an aquifer, which is an underground layer of rock, sand or silt that has groundwater.
Well-drillers have to be careful when drilling because the deeper they go, the more likely they are to find saltwater contamination due to proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, Anderson said.
Parts of James Island and Edisto Island have this issue, he said.
Getting a well isn’t cheap. Anderson said drilling a shallow well could cost at least $4,000. An intermediate well could cost a little less than $10,000 and a deeper well could cost around $12,000.
A well for drinking water — including maintenance — may cost around the same as paying for municipal water, Anderson said. Wells for irrigation are where people can see “tremendous savings,” he said.
Irrigation wells use approximately four times the amount of water a household uses for drinking, Anderson said. Shallow wells can produce at most 20 gallons of water per minute, whereas deeper wells can produce several hundred gallons of water per minute, McCrary said.
Irrigation-wise, both Anderson and McCrary agree a well would ultimately save homeowners money because of how much water the well would produce. McCrary said there would be a bigger upfront cost to get the well drilled, but homeowners wouldn’t have to pay a monthly bill as anyone connected to municipal water must.
Having your own well also means being in control of how you treat the water, Anderson said. Charleston Water System treats the water to remove sediment, bacteria and more before it’s distributed to more than 100,000 homes and businesses in the tri-county area.