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We have been in Maine almost 15 years now, and this is the first summer where it seems lots of people are having problems with their wells coming up dry. We know people without water, and it seems like every day, more and more are making the local news.
So, question for lifelong Mainers: Is this unprecedented? Or does this happen every couple of decades?
We have been in Maine almost 15 years now, and this is the first summer where it seems lots of people are having problems with their wells coming up dry. We know people without water, and it seems like every day, more and more are making the local news.
So, question for lifelong Mainers: Is this unprecedented? Or does this happen every couple of decades?
Dry spells happen from time to time. I think '95 was worse than this year.
I know people with dug wells who have had low water levels in the summer for the past three years. They measure the water level every couple of weeks to help facilitate decisions about appropriate water conservation measures and ensure the well does not go dry. They are going to the laundrymat and conserving their well water in other ways. I have never known anyone with a drilled well to have a water shortage.
I have never known anyone with a drilled well to have a water shortage.
Neither had I until this summer. Friend of a friend in Phippsburg has had their well dry up for the first time in forever. I'm not sure if their well is drilled or dug.
We ran out of water several times one summer. It was probably 17 or 18 years ago. The well is 70' deep and we're in a "high value water shed." We had a lot of livestock and a one-acre garden at the time, so we used a lot of water. The well would refill before the day was over. I've noticed this year that the pump runs longer than normal so it's down a bit.
Neither had I until this summer. Friend of a friend in Phippsburg has had their well dry up for the first time in forever. I'm not sure if their well is drilled or dug.
You should ask them. As I said, I have never known anyone to have a DRILLED well go dry. DUG wells, yes.
Last edited by mainegrl2011; 08-17-2022 at 10:38 AM..
We ran out of water several times one summer. It was probably 17 or 18 years ago. The well is 70' deep and we're in a "high value water shed." We had a lot of livestock and a one-acre garden at the time, so we used a lot of water. The well would refill before the day was over. I've noticed this year that the pump runs longer than normal so it's down a bit.
It depends on your area's water table too. I have relatives in British Columbia (the wettest area in North America) who are on a drilled well, and they have to be very careful with their daily water usage in the summers. In the summer if they do a large load of laundry and take two showers, their well supply is pretty much gone for several hours.
I have no idea what local Maine water tables are like. That's why I asked.
We ran out of water several times one summer. It was probably 17 or 18 years ago. The well is 70' deep and we're in a "high value water shed." We had a lot of livestock and a one-acre garden at the time, so we used a lot of water. The well would refill before the day was over. I've noticed this year that the pump runs longer than normal so it's down a bit.
You can have a deeper well drilled of course, but the implication that the water may be being pulled out faster than it's being replenished by rainfall... if that were to turn out to be an ongoing imbalance for some indefinite time, that would be concerning.
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