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Old 12-27-2019, 07:44 AM
 
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In my real estate searches I come across a lot of properties with water well issues, even though most are not completely dry properties and do have some water.

I'm seeing a lot of homes with 2 or 3 wells, where only one is producing and the rest are dry or almost dry. Even the sole producing well is sometimes marginal and requires switching to the 2nd, back-up well often.
These wells tend to run deep (over 300-400 feet), while drilling and casing aren't cheap these days.
Also, seeing some properties that are dry and either use spring-fed cistern (spring might be seasonal) or just plain haul water or depend on rain water catchment.

From my standpoint, the value of dry property (where one has to haul water and no city water hookup is available) is basically close to zero.
I also think that value should be very, very low for semi-dry properties, where there's already a dry well or two (indicator of acquifer going bad), and the current well is struggling (while aquifer is fragmented/much fractured rock, so there's no guarantee that any next well will produce any water, whatever deep you drill).
Yet, I'm seeing these listed at the same prices as houses with good water supply.

It seems like in certain areas water supplies are now dwindling affected by either droughts or excessive pumping such as poultry farms, mining ops, or new subdivisions draining the aquifer.

Is outlook bad for marketability of such rural properties, with struggling wells? Would you risk buying one?
I decided to avoid any homes where there's at least one dry well present, as it seems like an indicator of future troubles and possibly not being able to resell without great loss (if can resell at all).
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Old 12-27-2019, 08:07 AM
 
Location: Rochester, WA
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This isn’t something that happens in our area. What area are you looking in?
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Old 12-27-2019, 08:10 AM
 
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Originally Posted by Diana Holbrook View Post
This isn’t something that happens in our area. What area are you looking in?
I've been seeing it around 3 areas where I looked for real estate: New Mexico, West Virginia and California, also in South Dakota and Colorado.
Well this is all over the West and Appalachian areas, actually.
This is not happening everywhere, of course, I just meant specific situation where it's happening, if these properties can have real value.
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Old 12-27-2019, 08:33 AM
 
Location: Rochester, WA
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Well, at least around here, the lack of a reliable, permanent water supply would be a mortgage deal breaker. Water source is very important. Fortunately, at least in Western WA... "not enough water" is not usually the problem.
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Old 12-27-2019, 08:35 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Diana Holbrook View Post
Well, at least around here, the lack of a reliable, permanent water supply would be a mortgage deal breaker. Water source is very important.
Yes. Though, I heard they do issue mortgages on houses using spring-fed cisterns if this is common in the area, where many houses use the same type of system (though this is highly unreliable supply).
If a house has a struggling well, I think this is not checked by the bank, as soon as well produces some water even though this might be little and force owners to limit their water use.
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Old 12-27-2019, 04:30 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by opossum1 View Post
Yes. Though, I heard they do issue mortgages on houses using spring-fed cisterns if this is common in the area, where many houses use the same type of system (though this is highly unreliable supply).
If a house has a struggling well, I think this is not checked by the bank, as soon as well produces some water even though this might be little and force owners to limit their water use.

It may or not be an 'unreliable' source. I know of properties that have wells and or springs that have very long recovery cycles. It is only when there is a change in the baseline that there is a problem. Water is a resource. if you know the recovery rate and the rate it is being used at you can know if it is a sustainable proposition. If you use the resource faster than it can recover than you need a plan to supplement and or replace it. Well goes dry (or becomes contaminated) you need to dig a new one or lose the value of the property. That is why when our town drills a well it needs to be tested to make sure it does not affect private wells around it. If it does than steps must be taken (reduced draw or shut it down or buy out the private well owners need for that well)



We are not a particularly dry area but as population increases the demand on the resource increases and land values are adjusted.
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Old 12-27-2019, 04:36 PM
 
527 posts, read 415,277 times
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Originally Posted by MidValleyDad View Post
It may or not be an 'unreliable' source. I know of properties that have wells and or springs that have very long recovery cycles. It is only when there is a change in the baseline that there is a problem. Water is a resource. if you know the recovery rate and the rate it is being used at you can know if it is a sustainable proposition. If you use the resource faster than it can recover than you need a plan to supplement and or replace it. Well goes dry (or becomes contaminated) you need to dig a new one or lose the value of the property. That is why when our town drills a well it needs to be tested to make sure it does not affect private wells around it. If it does than steps must be taken (reduced draw or shut it down or buy out the private well owners need for that well)



We are not a particularly dry area but as population increases the demand on the resource increases and land values are adjusted.
With spring-fed system, it's take a hydrologist's report to confirm reliability of supply, I think.
Also, many springs can be contaminated much easier than deep drilled wells.

Your town taking care not to affect private wells....good, unfortunately it's not been the case with industries like mining or poultry farming in many places, they ruined a lot of wells and degraded aquifers, not to mention all the subdivisions permitted without proper hydrology evals.

Regarding "lose the value of the property" is exactly what the question is about...a lot of times it's not as simple as drilling a new, deeper, well to restore water supply but rather a 50/50 gamble if you can find any reliable, or any water at all, if you drill again. So I wonder how such property should be priced compared to the value of similar home but with reliable water supply. From my standpoint it's close to being worthless. Not clear how to price this stuff.

Last edited by opossum1; 12-27-2019 at 04:48 PM..
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Old 12-27-2019, 04:56 PM
 
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Drilling a well is always a gamble Our town works from a spring field (in use since the late 1800s) and over 20 wells. It is getting very hard to find a source for additional water. We can find good producing wells in an aquifer the state says is 'over commited' and won't let us draw from. Our attempts to find water in the two other aquifers in the area have been unsuccessful in quantities worth developing have been terrible (I think it has been over a dozen 'dry holes') We could use some of those but the water would be much more expensive.


As far as springs even the state water people say our springs have been predicting drought conditions at least as well as any of their other methods. having 100+ years of records helps. And I know of property owners who have tracked their spring production for at least as long.


As far as the other concerns that gets into water rights law. Different states have different track records.
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Old 12-27-2019, 05:08 PM
 
527 posts, read 415,277 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MidValleyDad View Post
Drilling a well is always a gamble Our town works from a spring field (in use since the late 1800s) and over 20 wells. It is getting very hard to find a source for additional water. We can find good producing wells in an aquifer the state says is 'over commited' and won't let us draw from. Our attempts to find water in the two other aquifers in the area have been unsuccessful in quantities worth developing have been terrible (I think it has been over a dozen 'dry holes') We could use some of those but the water would be much more expensive.


As far as springs even the state water people say our springs have been predicting drought conditions at least as well as any of their other methods. having 100+ years of records helps. And I know of property owners who have tracked their spring production for at least as long.


As far as the other concerns that gets into water rights law. Different states have different track records.
I was wondering mostly about riparian law state here (with non-riparian law states the question is heavier, but these normally would allow one to replace one lost well with equivalent one, allowing the same maximum draw).

If your town gets sufficient water for current use and is not permitting more development it should be fine, more or less, unless the existing aquifer goes dry.... or, unless there's industry outside of town's jurisdiction that draws from the same aquifer.

My question is about homes on own private struggling wells, with history of previous wells going dry and abandoned and with unclear prospects of getting more. With aquifers that aren't very fragmented I think it can be almost a sure bet to drill deeper right next to the existing well, often the issue is just lowered water table...but with fragmented aquifer, it's really a big gamble, as water might be basically gone in any direction through many cracks in the rocks.
It seems to be hard to get any prior well or spring production info from owners in terms of actual records, and some homes weren't owned by the same people for a long time, while old drilling companies went out of business, so no chance of getting records.
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Old 12-27-2019, 07:02 PM
 
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The house I grew up in (one county over from where I am now) had a 60' deep well that had an artesional flow (we used a pump to maintain volume and pressure) but a new neighbor not 150 feet away went 200 ft down to get a sufficent flow. We were worried that our well would have reduced flow but 30 years later when we sold the property the neighbor had had to replace their well (this time they went 300'+ and we were still on the same well with no problem.


The town worries about residential development on the aquifer. Any annexations in our town have to 'bring enough water to support any planned development'. This means they have to drill and have the wells tested and approved by the state for their draw. It is limiting some proposed development. Industrial development has not been an issue, the land is too valuable for residential use if developed beyond agricultural use.
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