Cheyenne well drilling question... (houses, subdivisions, living)

[Tyster]

Howdy everyone!

My wife and I own 80 acres of land NE of Cheyenne and we were wondering if we can drill our well anywhere we want on our land or if there is some sort of rule or regulation that would prevent that, forcing us to drill in particular locations. We know where we want to build our house on the land so it would need to be near that. Just wondering if the gooberment gets involved in this sort of decision.

Many Thanks!

Tyster

[sunsprit]

With an 80 acre parcel, approval for a domestic only use well ... limited to a maximum of 25 gallons per minute ... is pretty much a routine application at the State Engineer's office in the Herschler Building in Cheyenne.

You will have to locate the well accurately on a 1/4 section map for recording purposes, although it's not an exact location, for the groundwater division to issue the permit. No well driller will start drilling without your permit, and some will be very helpful in getting the permit and doing their drilling and well installation.

Although you've already determined where you want your house, you may want to have your property "witched" to get some assurance that a well will be producing water close by your house site. Make no assumptions about where you'll find water and at what depth based upon neighbor's property. You may do better, the same, or worse ... at your place.

[IShotBigfoot]

Here in south Alabama, water is an afterthought. Average well depth here is around 45' and the sky is the limit on water pressure. What kinds of depths do yall average? Do you have problems with "bad" water or low flow? We are considering a move to Wyoming (prob northern WY) & this is something that hasn't even crossed my mind!

[sunsprit]

Originally Posted by IShotBigfoot

Here in south Alabama, water is an afterthought. Average well depth here is around 45' and the sky is the limit on water pressure. What kinds of depths do yall average? Do you have problems with "bad" water or low flow? We are considering a move to Wyoming (prob northern WY) & this is something that hasn't even crossed my mind!

This is exactly the "afterthought" problem that exists in Wyoming when folks from riparian climate zones move here.

While we've discussed water ... the lack of it, who owns it, where it's at, how you get it, and how critical it is to living here (esp if you want to raise crops or ranch) ... many times on this forum in recent months, here's the bottom line in a nutshell:

This area is mostly a high alititude desert climate. Surface and Groundwater (that's the water you get from a well) is scarce, and it's all owned by the State.

We get most of our moisture from a winter season that leaves snow to melt in the mountains in the springtime, and a rather short "rainy" season in the spring.

Since we're a "headwaters" state in a region of water scarcity, much of the water that is here is already "promised" to adjacent states for their use by interstate water compacts. We don't have a lot of water storage to capture and retain the snowmelt in the streams and rivers, it heads out of state.

Just because you have water on your property doesn't mean you have the right to use it at anytime for any purpose whatsoever except to look at it; it's owned by the State and it's been adjudicated to others who value and guard it jealously for over a century.

Just because you have a water "right" doesn't mean that there will be functional water delivered to you ... it's the difference between mankind allocating a resource and nature delivering it; in a drought year, your water right may be no better than the paper it's written upon.

Just because your neighbor drilled a domestic well limited to 25 gpm and hit good water at 150' doesn't mean you'll hit water at 150', or 200', or 400' ... or at all.

Just because you find water available in your well doesn't mean it won't be contaminated from natural or ag or ranching or mining sources and it will be your problem to "clean it up".

Just because you've got a well testing good for delivery in April-May-June-July doesn't mean it won't run "dry" or nearly so in August-September-October of the same year. Just because a family lived on a property for a century doesn't mean that the well produced good water all the time, nor does it guarantee that you'll have abundant water from it next year.

I've seen folks drill deep wells that only produced 1-2 gallons per minute. I've seen subdivisions get approved for a community water system whose source was a "seep" that delivered 2 gallons per minute, which was OK when there was only 1 house built to use it but is totally inadequate for the 12 houses planned.

Are you getting the picture? Water is a rare, valuable, and precious commodity here. It's not something you can take for granted, it's something that must be at the top of your thinking about where you're going to live here and your other water uses. Even municpal water systems have to compete for the available water and their water rights ... and some towns have actually "run out of water" in recent years, couldn't deliver water to their customers. They had to truck in drinking water for the folks. Ah, and that reminds me ... there are some areas of the state where water is in such limited supply that the homeowners in the area "truck in" water for their cisterns or storage tanks for domestic use; there simply isn't water to be found on their properties.

[Tyster]

Hi Sunsprit,

Many Thanks for your reply! Glad to hear this will be routine. One thing I'm not entorely clear on is getting my land "witched". Do you mean with a dousing rod?

Thanks again!

Tyster

[Froggie Legs]

Water "witching" is an art... I did it as a lark when I was visiting my aunt and uncle as a teen, and "found" water with an iron file, if I remember correctly. Not sure what methods are used nowadays

[sunsprit]

Originally Posted by Tyster

Hi Sunsprit,

Many Thanks for your reply! Glad to hear this will be routine. One thing I'm not entorely clear on is getting my land "witched". Do you mean with a dousing rod?

Thanks again!

Tyster

I've seen everything from forked sticks to bent pieces of welding rod to special twigs used in the process. Some get "pulled down", some have two wires "cross" ....

Everybody seems to have their "special" way of doing the water search, and some have pretty good success with it.

[Tyster]

Thanks again, sunsprit. As always, you've been very helpful!