The Right Conditions

In certain portions of our region gravel (or screen) wells can be another excellent option as a pure drinking water source.  In fact, gravel wells tend to be very high-yield water wells with many producing dozens of gallons of water per-minute.  Areas near significant bodies of water such as lakes tend to nicely support gravel water wells due to the shallow depth to water table.

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How We Do It

The first stages of drilling a gravel well are similar to the those of drilling a bedrock well.  The difference is that instead of drilling through the overburden and into bedrock, we stop in the overburden when we reach gravel.  A stainless steel, slotted screen, coupled to our six inch steel casing is lowered into place.  (As with all of our other well equipment, we use only the highest quality materials, in this case Johnson stainless steel screens).  The process of well development begins once the screen has been set at the proper depth to draw from an aquifer.  Later we test the well recovery rate—how quickly water flows back into the well after use—and measure the well yield (in gallons per-minute).

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Experience Has Taught Us

If you’re interested in a gravel well, understand that our decades of drilling in the White Mountains and Lakes regions of New Hampshire and Western Maine have taught us that conditions can vary by neighborhood and even house-to-house.  We will only drill a gravel water well if we’re confident that it will be a long-lasting water source.

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There’s Always Artesian

In some cases, after we begin attempting a gravel water well we determine that the makeup of the overburden is not conducive to such a water well.  In such cases, we consult with the property owner concerning an alternate location on the property or simply continuing drilling in the same borehole to create an Artesian bedrock well.