How Are Wells Holding Up In Central TX? (Austin, Spring: loan, buying a home)

[tbrich]

Hi, I'm looking at homes in semi-rural area north of Austin (78628) and most have wells for water supply. With the past two years of limited rainfall in the Austin area, I am wondering how the wells fared during this time. Anyone help me out?

[austin-steve]

Many are dry, many are holding up fine. There is not a general answer that can be helpful to you, unfortunately, other than "buyer beware". When you find a house you like, you have to have that specific well inspected. Whether it is "weak" (pumping low volume), "dry" (not pumping at all), or pumping full strength will depend on variables that you can't know until having it inspected/tested. It could also be pumping, but poor quality water, so you have to test the water quality also.

I'm closing today on a home in Dripping Springs. The seller said the well was dry and had been trucking in water to a 2500 gallon holding tank. We determined through inspection that the pump was broken and the well was not dry. Replaced the pump and lowered it a bit and the well runs fine. A new well would have cost $13K.

So you can't even believe or trust what a property owner says. This one thought it was dry because her neighbors were all dry at the same time hers stopped pumping, so she hadn't even had it checked out.

FYI -the lender put my buyers through hell on this loan, nit picking the septic and well, so if you're buying a home with well and septic, they are probably going to be required to be in full working order, including petty maintenance and repairs that a normal buyer would't fuss about but the lender will.

Steve

[JTinTx]

We live in the Hill Country and our well held up fine during the summer. Like austin-steve said, when you find a house you like have an inspection done on the well.

[TexasHorseLady]

78628 is in the Georgetown area, and I haven't heard of a lot of wells going dry up here. Doesn't mean none have, but it hasn't hit the paper or the grapevine, if so.

But definitely have the well and the septic inspected, whether or not your lender requires it. Those are two things you very much will rely on and very much want to be working properly.

[Trainwreck20]

If you look at drought maps, you will see that the drought conditions drop off rapidly as you head north. Not to say G'town isn't in the drought area, but the water supply that it depends on probably has had a lot more contribution than the aquifer areas to the south of G'town. Also, if I remember correctly, the city of G'town gets water from both the lake and from wells (the city used to be exclusively well supplied way back in the day) and a large portion of the G'town area is on city water. The decrease load on the aquifer should help some.

By comparison, the Drippings Springs has a huge number of wells, and, oddly enough and unrealted, is 100% septic. The HS is on septic! It boggles the mind somewhat . Anyway, almost the entire population water demand is on the aquifer, I think, in the DS area, and that can be a problem, along with the hillier terrain that create vastly 'unequal' wells.

When I did live up in G'town years ago, we did have a well and in one particularly dry summer (sometime in the 70s) we had some minor water supply problems because the water table fell so far. We were still getting water, but it had sediment in it from being below the cased level of the well.

[TexasHorseLady]

Trainwreck20, the City of Jarrell is just getting a water treatment plant, and that only because of the new subdivisions going in. Everyone's been quite happily on septic for quite a long time now (town founded in 1909), even the schools, but those in the city limits are being required to hook up to the new city sewer to the tune of a few thousand dollars each. That's progress for you!

A lot of Georgetown is on septic, too.

[Trainwreck20]

A lot of Georgetown is on septic, too.

Oh, I know, we were on septic and probably that area still is...Jarrel is pretty small, still, too, new subdivision or not. It just is interesting that the city of Dripping Springs has managed so long without a water treatment plant .

2007-2008 - Jarrell High School: 245 students
2005-2006 - Dripping Springs HS: 1200 students

[TexasHorseLady]

Yeah, we were 1200 about 3 years ago and they told us to expect an additional 5,000 people to move in within the next five years then. Compared to Dripping Springs' 1800 or so in 2008.