Found Well....advice?

Over the weekend I made an interesting discovery. About 10 feet off the southwest corner of my house (and about 10 feet from the road) is a concrete pad about 3 foot square. It has an access cover and a 4" hole. I was told that this was the cover for a cistern most likely used to hold storm runoff from the roof of the house (and its position relative to the downspouts seemed to agree with this). I had never opened the access, but could see that there is standing water through the 4" hole.

Saturday while doing some landscaping in the front of the house a neighbor stopped by, and after some chatting we decided to open it up and take a look.

Much to my suprise we discovered that what I thought was a closed cistern is in fact a hand dug, stone lined well, about 25 feet deep and holding about 16 feet of water. (The house is over 200 years old - the well is lined with the same stone as the house).

The water is a bit murky, and there is a dip tube which passes through the house foundation into the basement (Ohhh...thats what that pipe is for....).

We are currently using drilled wells for house water (100' or so deep) so I assume this hand dug well is in a different aquifier than our house water.

If I start to draw from this well will the water quality clear up? Should I try treating it in any way? Is it safe to use for outside use - irrigatiopn, annimals, etc? Would it be a good or bad idea to use it to supply a small pond (electric pump w/a float system)?

Any other input, advice, ideas??

I hate to have a resource and not use it...

Some additional info - the dip tube is relatively small, about 3/4 inch galvanized pipe. Obviously for drawing FROM the well, as opposed to pumping INTO it.
The shaft reverse tapers below the pad, opening up to about 6 or 7 feet in diameter by the time it is about 5 feet down.
I plan to try a look with a high powered light this evening to see if I can actually see the bottom, but my probing on Saturday seemed to indicate the bottom was partially covered w/stone, there seemed to be about a 2 or 3 square foot (appx) portion in the center that was "soft" - probably soil where the water seeped/flowed into the shaft.
I also plan to check for additional inlet/outlet pipes tonight, but don't ecxpect to find any. The downspout seems to actually pass beside this shaft, and there doesn't seem to be an overflow on the street side.

Thanks,

Gregg

Pull a water sample and have it analyzed. That should tell you if it's safe for irrigation and watering stock. Can you determine that it is in fact a well and not a cistern?

Incredible, or maybe I shouldn't be surprised...I have a virtually identical situation - I think. I live across the Delaware from you in Lambertville in an old farmhouse (c.1818) that I'm slowly restoring. Off the SW corner is a concrete slab that (nearly) covers a 4 ft diameter, stone lined hole in the yard. I can peer into the hole at the edge of the slab and make out the inside wall of round stones (kind of cobble stone-ish). Mine appears to have a dirt floor about 4 ft down. If it was/is a cistern, how did it work? Did the hole fill up with rain water and get accessed by a bucket? Or was there typically a pipe from the cistern to the house? I too have a large-ish pipe coming into my basement from the direction of the cistern at basement floor level, which would put it about 6 feet below ground. Anyhow, this pipe has been cut right at the wall and has screen mesh over the end.

I can't figure what the pipe was for...if it was from the cistern, what happened to the water once it came into the house.
[img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] It just occurred to me as I'm writing: Perhaps this pipe goes from the house to the cistern and used to carry roof run off to fill the cistern in the yard.

I'll follow the thread closely to see what I can learn [img]/forums/images/icons/confused.gif[/img]

Richard

Considering the size and location of your pipe, and the fact that your excavation is dry, I suspect you have what is known as a "dry well". The key information would be if the pipe from the basement to the well is graded towards the well, and at what point does it enter the well. If it enters the well some height from the floor you have a dry well. It would be used to collect the water exiting the basement and hold it until it could soak into the ground through the floor of the well. Remember, when our houses were built gutters were not commonplace and basements could be quite wet during heavy rain.

My understanding is that a cistern was sealed on all sides to contain collected water - holding for later use.

My investigations this evening were only partially fruitful. There does not appear to be any other inlet/outlets from the well. The water defies even the brightest light and I can only see about 4 or 5 inches below the surface. Interestingly the walls seem to continue their taper below the surface, indicating a possible final diameter of over 8 feet!! One of the neighbors told me that the previous owners had told him at one point that there was a "stream" running under the house. This water does not seem to be moving in any way but I wonder if this well might have been dug in the path of an existing spring? There are supposedly at least one if not two other springs on the property - neither of which I have located due to a combination of time and wet weather for the last two years (everything looks like a spring around here...).

I am considering renting a 2 or 3 inch commercial pump this weekend and seeing if I can pump the water level down to examine the entire shaft, and maybe determine if there is a viable inlet flow. My only concern is that the water is helping to support the structure and by emptying it I might upset some precariously balanced system...

Any input?

Gregg

It should'nt hurt to pump it down unless theres a tree root pushing the side in or other visible damage. The way the rocks are layed in supports the sides sort of like an arch in a doorway. I have a well here in Missouri that is lined with red bricks,I pumped it out several times now and it'll recover overnight,I would never drink from a dug well but cattle are alot tougher than folk. I would be careful about having the water tested because ,depending on your local laws they might condemn(sp) the well and make you fill it in or pay to have it done. The first time I pumped ours out I found 3 or 4 old buckets,an old pulley and an empty metal tool box at the bottom,we jerry rigged a grappeling hook and fished the things out. I bought a shallow well pump from harbor freight ,the one with the tank built in and we use the well for all the water for the animals at the barn.

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Hmmmmm the post you responded to is over 5 years old I doubt he cares anymore and certainly is not interested in doing business with an Arizona firm from PA.