A pleasant surprize.

[sheeny (Al)]

Got home from work today to find the area around the top of our well flooded.

When we bought the place, the well was a bit of a pit of eternal peril out the front with precipitous sloping sides into a deep hole full of water covered with iron and with a concrete pipe in the middle.

I put 14 cubic metres of gabian rock into the hole around the pipe to make it safe and then made a steel lid for the pipe. After moving 14 cubic metres of rock by hand I can tell you I was over it! In the last couple of weeks I've rocked up the near vertical sides to make them safer.

Since rocking around the well I've watched the water level steadily drop. I hoped it was just a normal variation, but all the while was aware that maybe rocking in the well had put enough pressure on the aquifer to reduce the level/flow.

A day or two ago the level was about 6" below the top of the gabian rock fill... this afternoon?.... It's 6" above the level I filled to! That's not a bad change in water table level for a day or two!

I think I'll watch and see what it does for a while... I'm not keen on buying another 4 or 6 cubic metres of rock to raise the level again...

It's got to be a good sign anyway!

Al.

[astro_south (Andrew)]

Nice one Al

While my experince with groundwater has taught me there are no garantees, it is unlikely that adding the rocks would reduce the water level, infact I would expect the opposite given the added mass and the possibility that the porosity of the aquifer has been reduced, albeit very locally.

Chances are that the rise and fall are more likely to be linked to regional water level changes due to recharge event a while ago (possibly some snow melt from a few weeks ago ?) Are there any other groundwater users nearby, as their usage patterns could be echoed in your water levels?

Was there any rain between when you put the rocks in and tonight when you noticed the water level rise? This may have directly filled the voids in the rocks you have put in, but this hasn't percolated into the aquifer (yet) due to a much lower transmissivity and lower storativity in the aquifer.

Any photos of the site?

Does the water level in the pipe / bore match the water level in the rock fill?

PM me if you want any advice

[sheeny (Al)]

Here's a couple of photos. You can see the gabian rock (basalt) under the water.

We had about an inch of rain on the weekend and another inch during the week before. I suspect that could've had something to do with it.

Al.

[Jen]

water is precious u should hide it lol