When I hired a PE soils guy to help me with foundation design he got a sub to drill a 6 inch diameter bore hole for taking samples every 6 inches till we hit solid rock. The next day the ground water had filled the bore hole to within 5 ft of the surface.

I have no clue what pump rate could have been sustained but wondered about efficacy of a few shallow wells for irrigation (garden and landscaping)

I think the ground water is contained in a layer of mostly sand starting from 1 to 2 feet below the surface and continuing to a rock shelf. The water in this sand layer runs slowly southward toward the South Canadian River. Where it happens upon some of my ponds it donates water to them.

An alternative is to just take water from the nearest of the 12 ponds, especially the "spring fed" ones that stay up really well in droughts as it is likely the same water I would get if I sank some shallow wells.

Any thoughts?

Pat