The drought has gotten to our well. Dried up tonight.

[Wise Owl]

Say a prayer for us, please. Our well is offically dry now. We will have to start hauling water from the spring 10 miles away. Been buying drinking water but it's gotten to the point that if we don't get some really good, drenching rains for more than an hour, we may be hauling all winter. Once the ground freezes up, the water won't be moving underground at all.
Our well is a dug well. NOT drilled. The ground water is below the bottom of the 16 ft well bed now.

Thanks and God bless.

Juile

[Brasso]

My dug well dried up years ago so I had one drilled. No trouble since. What part of Maine are you in?

[Wise Owl]

Western Maine and we rent our place. Pretty sure our landlady is not going to cough up $14,000 to drill a well for us. 90% of the people who have camps or homes up here have dug wells. We are surrounded by lakes, and springs here and there. We have had no measurable rain in months. Not much snow last winter either. Been using as little water as possible all summer.

We needed Mathew to come for a visit but he chickened out and headed out to sea.

[Brasso]

I'm south/central by Augusta. Yes, we sure could use a couple days of soaking rain.

[Wise Owl]

How bout a week of it? I sure wouldn't complain. Even the rivers up here are going dry.

[NavyVet1959]

Blame it on Canada...

They're always blaming it on us, we might as well return the favor, eh?

[bruce drake]

Friends in Dover-Foxcroft are about to go into water rationing since the town draws their water from the Piscataquis River.

[shoot-n-lead]

I grew up on a well that would dry up...it was aggravating and VERY inconvenient.

Prayer sent for your situation.

[jonp]

Western Maine and we rent our place. Pretty sure our landlady is not going to cough up $14,000 to drill a well for us. 90% of the people who have camps or homes up here have dug wells. We are surrounded by lakes, and springs here and there. We have had no measurable rain in months. Not much snow last winter either. Been using as little water as possible all summer.

We needed Mathew to come for a visit but he chickened out and headed out to sea.

A rental must remain habitable and that includes running water or the landlord must make it so. If you really love that place your at and are on good terms with the landlady then you will just have to suck it up and pray some rain comes within the next month. If your not on great terms or only ok with the place then you may not have to pay rent until the well is dug and she can't throw you out for it if you file a complaint. She definitely can't throw you out in the winter no matter what.

I wish Matthew had went up the coast not for the loss of life of course but it dumped 15in of rain on a bunch of our state and it's still flooding. I had 3 roads closed behind me, one had the road collapsed over a culvert after I crossed it in my truck and you still can't get to a bunch of places. My buddy in North East Vermont hasn't said anything or my wifes parents. I hope it rains for you

[USMC87]

Prayers for you and all affected as well.

[ricksplace]

Blame it on Canada...

They're always blaming it on us, we might as well return the favor, eh?

Bwaaaahhhahahahah. sorry...

[richhodg66]

Wife and I moved out to a place in the sticks that's on a well. I've worried about this possibility as I've known folks who've had it happened, but it has been real wet this year for Kansas, rained and rained and rained this year it seems after several years of below average rainfall. I'm scared it means we'll have more snow than usual this Winter.

I wish you the best. Running water is one of those things we all take for grated, but you can't do without it.

[fast ronnie]

We've had drought here in central California for several years, now. Our well is 300 feet, and has concerned me. We have vineyards in the area that cover hundreds of acres each, and most of them have wells 700 to a thousand feet deep. They are depleting the ground water at a tremendous rate. To add to the problem, a sizeable portion of our available water is being diverted to Los Angeles and to San Francisco. It's not just the drought, but too many people building in areas that are not long-term viable, then expecting others to cater to them.

There are several people in the area that have had to have their wells deepened or new ones drilled.

Friday was the first rain we have had since spring and we've gotten about an inch so far. It sure is welcome. I hope we have a wet winter this year to get things back up to where the water table it should be, but this is going to take several years even under very wet years. I don't have an answer, and don't really know if there is one.

The Lord knows what we have need of, and he will supply us in the midst of whatever happens. We serve a big God, and HE knows what we need before we can even ask. He supplies His faithful, and provides for even those who are against Him. We need to be thankful for His blessings even when we don't feel like it.

[Petrol & Powder]

$14,000 to drill a well?

Wow, that's steep.

The last time I checked the prices were running about $10/ft. plus materials.
Don't know what it costs in Maine and there's probably a high demand right not due to the drought.

It would seem to me that the landlord is responsible for providing a water source. I bet you could come to some agreement, like "I'll stay but I'm not paying rent until there's water?", Or if you install a reliable well I'll pay more rent (allows the landlord to recoup their cost of drilling the well and spreads out the expense to you over a longer period of time). The landlord is going to have a hard time renting a property with no water so there's an incentive for the landlord to improve the property and if you like the place there's incentive for you to pay more for a reliable water source.

[OS OK]

Water tables generally drop gradually...good water there might be only 10 to 30 feet deeper. You should call some local well driller and query him about the water table in your exact part of the county...I wouldn't panic yet as $500 might solve your problem.
Here in California the tables are dropping all over, even in the valley...having never lived on a ridge before I had my well sunk from 300 to 700 feet when I bought and negotiated the cost out of the selling price...glad I did!

[Garyshome]

I wish we could send the 8" we got from Matthew last week, We didn't need it[NC]

[Wise Owl]

Talked to the landlady this morning. She is going to ask the Fire Chief if they could bring a pumper out and fill our well for us. It's not just us, lot's of these dug wells are dry now. So, maybe, maybe not on filling it.
In any case, I am going to spend my birthday today going to the spring and refilling all our water jugs up. Found out our toilet takes 3 gals to flush. Another 3 to refill it. Almost makes me want an outhouse out back....

Supposed to get rain this week. Probably not enough to do much but any would be great at this point. I will give thanks to God for every drop He brings.

[Wise Owl]

I wish we could send the 8" we got from Matthew last week, We didn't need it[NC]

Oh, how I wish Matthew had come all the way north. Prayed over that. Didn't happen.

[Reg]

No big deal. Do some research and find out about a "sand bucket". Easy to make your self and they work great providing you do not have large chunks of solid rock in the hole itself.
Our old wind mill well ( 90 feet ) had gone dry years ago. On a whim I made up a sand bucket and drilled it to the 118 foot level and now we are back in usable water. We would go deeper but there is something very hard and solid down there and it is either too big or something that the bucket will not pull up.
You say your well is only 16 foot deep ? That is really not very far. How was it dug in the first place. Surely there must be a way to get it a few feet lower and often only a few feet will make all the difference.

[Wise Owl]

It's a "dug" well, like the old time wells. They put in big round tiles set down into the ground and that contains the water. There is a pump under the house with pipe going into the side of the well, down about 8 feet so the pipes don't freeze up in the winter. The frost line is around 5 to 6 ft some winters.
Unless the tiles were pulled out and the well deepened your idea wouldn't work. The water would just escape into the surrounding ground. Big job and expensive. Landlady would balk at that.

Off to the spring to refill bottles now.