Digging a well in Ditmas Park
I can’t decide if this is a dumb idea, but I’m really excited about it. I live in Ditmas Park and I’m considering digging a garden well in the backyard to save city drinking water, but mostly because I think it would be cool to have a well. I’ve been quoted $1500-$3000. to drill a…
I can’t decide if this is a dumb idea, but I’m really excited about it. I live in Ditmas Park and I’m considering digging a garden well in the backyard to save city drinking water, but mostly because I think it would be cool to have a well. I’ve been quoted $1500-$3000. to drill a 2″ well and then plan to put a cast iron hand pump to supply the plants and shrubs around the yard with water. The well probably wont pay for itself but at least I’ll be saving drinking water. I plan to have the water tested as i don’t want to pump heavy metals all over the yard. And depending on water quality, will determine if i should use it on our veggies or not. Someone told me that all these old houses at one time used well water but I have no idea where the original might be. Please feel free to comment on the sanity of this idea.
I’m looking for information regarding going green with a geothermal heating and water system, incl.getting a permit in order to dig a well in Midwood. I can’t seem to find anyone in Brooklyn who’s done it. I wonder why? What seems to be the issue? Especially with the new tax incentives it seems to be the way to go.
as a fellow flatbush owner- it sounds great but it maybe a liabilty in your homeowners insurance because of needing to kept covered and safe? I think the rain collection sounds excellent- we are going to try that and at least water the lawn with it this summer and filter it for drinking- we are on e 18th & beverly maybe if we all bought rainbarrels together and tried it out we could make a big change in things-
I’m a Stratford Roadian — I’d love to hear how this turns out. I grew up on a farm that had an old well that we didn’t use, but I always found its existence sort of romantic. It was also a great home for garden snakes, which we used to catch and put in the tub. You can imagine how fond my mother was of this habit.
Argyle Road: Hire a dowser?
Thanks for the comments. The rain barrel certainly seems less complicated and probably smarter. Still the well idea interests me.
I just spoke with a well guy and he told me that to get permits from the DEP would be really expensive and probably unlikely and would require monitoring every 6 months. With that said, I found a few places that would be willing to do it anyway sans permit.
I will ask around at the next neighborhood meeting if anyone has an active well and if I can take a sample. If the quality is okay, I think i will go for it. I wonder if there is anyway to figure out where the original well was on our property? No signs of 6″ pipes in the basement…
When I grew up on Marlborough Road in your neck of the woods, we had a well out back. We didn’t really use it, because of the children and animals running around in the backyard. That being said, it is quite possible to do this.
You may also want to put in a rain garden. You put in plants that can survive a lot of water at different levels and you collect the rainwater from the roof. It’s a very pretty way of conserving water.
I was discussing this idea with my husband recently as we were researching geothermal possibilities for our new house in Flatbush.One of the houses we were initialy set to purchase had its own well which was shared by the house next door. I don’t think the owners ever used it.The house was on Waldorf Ct.So wells did exist at some point. We will ask our friend at the building department to find out about digging our own.That’s all I know for now, I”m curious to know what you discover.
I agree with 11:32. Rainwater harvesting is a lot cheaper, a lot smarter, and the water is guaranteed to be pure. You can set a rain barrel up at each of your downspouts and have all the water you need. Check out this forum: http://www.rain-barrel.net/
As a fellow Argyle Rd. homeowner I know that originally our water was supplied by the Flatbush Water Works from wells and a pumping station at Foster and New York Avenues. Several neighbors have wells that were dug in the early 1970’s when there was a drought and restrictions on lawn watering were in place. Since the water is so close to the surface, I would be quite surprised if it was drinkable with the effects of urbanization over the years. If you could find a neighbor who’s well still has a working pump, I’m certain that they would give you a sample that you could have tested.