Chile Forum

We are currently building a house on a parcella and are somewhat stumped by the methods most in the area use for water wells. It seems everyone known in the area is using hand dug wells and we would like to have a "real" well dug. We're trying to stay on a budget but pure, clean water with a sufficient flow rate is important. It appears that those with hand dug wells are getting water from the canal in a roundabout way. Does anyone know of someone in that area who has had a well drilled by someone who did a good job at a reasonable price? Or can someone offer us some advice on finding such a person? Or general advice on well-drilling would be much appreciated! We've had good luck in finding maestros for various work but not for this one.

Hi, having built a place in Az recently I did a lot of research on ths subject that might be of help to you.
You have neighbours whose wells are hand dug, indicating that the initial water table is pretty high. This will (or may) be groundwater that you don't really want, have a neighbour's water tested. Typically, leaky septic systems, animal waste and many other sorts of effluent can contaminate this source. That's why we drilled 175 feet to hit the underlying aquifer.
I initially thought about buying a rig from deeprock.com but in the end I had a local driller do the job.
If you were to check out the prices and it makes sense, who knows? You may be able to sell the rig afterwards? Obviously you need to have a geologist tell you if there is such an aquifer of if the groundwater is "it". I'd say a drilled well is an expensive proposition no matter where you get it done, good luck. BTW, don't forget to "witch" the area you plan to drill your well, it really worked well for me.

xxx

Thanks for your replies! We will be happy to share our experiences as well. One of our problems is that the canal running from the Rio Clarillo river is nearby and we worry about contamination from it. The Chilean practice, though changing, has been to dump trash and even raw sewage into the rivers. People in Chile largely don't worry about much and surely think we're crazy gringos already from some of the building practices we specify! And, mostly, we enjoy the Chilean way of thinking(we're here to get away from the rat race in the states). Someone even said there was no Cholera alert anymore, don't worry. Pirque is a generally clean area with large lots so neighbors are farther apart but is also still a rural area in many ways(who knows if there's a shack off in the trees somewhere).

We found a company that will drill but it seems pricey-50,000 CHP a meter which is perhaps $30-35 USD a foot(?) And we don't know how deep he would have to drill to reach the aquifer or bedrock(which we would prefer).

The US has geology surveys that tell you where the aquifer is in different areas but we don't know if there is anything like that here-perhaps the University would be helpful. If someone knows of a website or other source-they surely have geologists-we would so appreciate it!

A senior Architectural student is submitting our electrical plan for approval and our electrician is very good, but a bit slow for only around $15 a day. But he works every day and always greets us a big smile. We were recently told the work could not be inspected until the electrical plates were installed(this is Chile!) We were also fortunate to find a man with a front end loader who is quite an artist with dirt and holes for around $30 a day. Our brick layer is also quite a maestro for around 10,000 CHP or $20 a day. I agree with previous advice that building is much, much cheaper if you manage your own project-contractors charge a lot to manage the workers. The workers will do just about anything if they understand what you need but will work harder when the boss is around. Paying by the job, not the day would also be our recommendation. In other words, if someone says they'll so the job for 10,000 a day and it should take 3 days, make a deal at 30,000 for the job. Bringing some building experience will be extremely valuable. But, be flexible and patient-this is Chile.

I don't mean to sound negative-we love Chile and the people. It's been an interesting and amusing( and rewarding when the house is complete) experiemce. Every day an adventure! We may also buy some land in the South(Lake district)-it is so beautiful there.

xxx

Thanks for your replies, I was surprised to get them so quickly. I've read much of the forum information and plan to keep reading. The internet is a terrific source of information and I'll post again if we find an answer.

Sand points might be an option.

Have a look at this for some ideas, if it works in your area
http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/water/dwg/sandpt.htm

You also must register your well, anytime you mess with the water table in Chile.

If I get a chance I will post more of response to this one.

Typically our clients in the south have so much clean water that they end up working really hard to get rid of it and control it.

Thanks, an interesting link. We're really having no luck finding someone who knows where the aquifer might be. Maybe, it doesn't matter-there is plenty of water here and people seem to do just fine with hand dug wells. We have been told the water is good here but we had hoped for actual testing.

It's raining here so we'll have plenty of time for research and no well will be dug, drilled or otherwise for a while!

There are lots of labs in Santiago. send a couple samples out. I would go with a couple different labs to be sure. Mostly my concern would be around agricultural runoff if you are near any farms that are industrial in scale. Most the small guys tend to be fairly "organic" in nature. Not because they are progressive, but because they are cheapskates with the fertilizer.

I know they drill wells all the time in the big fruit production and wine production areas.

Another thing we have seen is water pipes run from neighbors properties, sometimes for KMs where the neighbor has a good source of water.

xxx

el puelche- that is funny. We're finding some things that may look unconventional but turn out for the best-and that's a good example.

The waterpipe run from the neighbors that Charles mentioned, I believe too. One of our neighbors has a long electrical extension run to their house from a neighbor. The electric company is supposed to come out and inspect once the electric work is done and all the plates and switches are in place-not before. They will then determine the size of transformer we have to buy and where it will be located-I understand we may have to buy our own pole. We have been told the company does not own the poles-like in the states-the homeowner does.

We have plenty of water, canals are everywhere, just a matter of how deep we should go for better than canal water. We don't have any commercial farms real close to us, many small farmers that are pretty organic. One was using a horse to plow so we guess chemical fertilizer is out of the question! The only tractors we've seen are a couple miles away from the parcella.

xxx