Making a Pond on an old well??

19 years ago

We live inside a small town of about 2500 people. The house is over a 100 years old and yes we have an old well in the back yard.

It has not been used for years and on one corner the concrete is now crumbling. We fear that a curious child may get to close and I want to completely cover this concrete slab that is about a 5ft square.

Hubby thinks I should use the well and make a pond on top of it.

I prefer to research this out before attempting this project. Any ideas on a pump system that would pump water from inside the well? what about a filter for the pond? I really do not know where to begin searching for information on this.

If you have any ideas or suggestions could you please pass them along so I can get an idea if this is doable or crazy?

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Comments (7)

catfishsam
19 years ago
Since the concrete is in bad shape, it would not be a good place for the pond.

Why not just have someone come in and repair the concrete?
catfishsam
19 years ago
If you want to use the well water, have someone that drills wells and installs pumps come out and give you some advice and estimates.

It might be cheaper not to use well water if the well is in bad shape?
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rhodyman
19 years ago
You must be very careful what you put in or near an existing well. If you do something that contaminates the ground water it can be very expensive to remediate. A homeowner has an obligation to keep wells safe from contamination as well as safe from accidents. A top priority would be to repair the well. This would be an ideal time to incorporate the well as a source of water for any pond. The electricity and pumps could be designed to work off the same feed. I built my greenhouse over a well. The roof of the greenhouse is designed so that it can be removed. Our well is a hand dug shallow well but it supplies our home and everything we do. We have another hand dug farm well that we sealed shut.
natteringninny
19 years ago
what rhodyman said. STAY AWAY FROM THE WELL!!!! Fix the cover!!
You moved to a small community and lots of those people probably still use their wells.
If you mess with the well other than just covering it up the chances are about 100% that you are going to pollute a lot of your neighbors drinking water. And when they find out it was you then you're going to be worrying about a lot more than some stray kid falling in a hole.
mountainman_bc
19 years ago
Exactly, you would pollute the groundwater, a very precious resource.
catfishsam
19 years ago
Actually, it might not even be a well? It might be a cistern which were common for older houses.

People would fill them with rain water and use them during the hot months to water their gardens.
Dylan
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
I dont understand any of these comments lol, they all seem way off the line. I am here because I had the exact same idea just ow and started researching it…. We live on a ‘mountain’ and have limited water. We have a pond about 100yrds away and maybe 500ft down way of elevation. We have an old well head (standard white pipe). No records from the county available to the depth or GPM but a well about 50ft from it is 600ft deep and 2gpm and we just replaced the pump on it that one since its our current source. Curious to hear if you went with a pond build and if it worked?