Increasing Shallow Dug Well Yield

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tkeoki

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I'd like to increase the yield of my 25' shallow 30"id cement-cased dug well. (This well is quickly becoming a hobby and academic obsession). It's currently at 5gpm and I'd love to get an additional couple of gallons.

The bottom of the well ends in clay and thus most of the water seeps in through the joints between the 2' cement caissons (the bottom three or four joints).

Some ideas I've had are the following:

1) Drill additional holes through the concrete casing. Is the limited area of the joints between the caissons limiting the yield?
2) Drive/jet screened pipe deeper through the bottom of the well. (I don't think this would help me out too much as I think the clay layer at the bottom of the well is pretty thick.)
3) Drive/jet screened pipe horizontally from the well in to the water sand layer. Basically creating a small scale radial well. I read somewhere of somebody using a car jack to drive small sections of pipe horizontally. or maybe use a borzit type setup.(probably not enough room for that though).
4) Surge the well using a 24" diameter round plate connected by some pipe to my backhoe.

Any thoughts on these(like you're nuts to even think this might work) or any additional crazy? ideas.

Thanks
 

Valveman

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Drilling holes in the casing may let in more water but, it may also let in more dirt and crud. 5 GPM is 7200 gallons per day. You may just have to put in a storage tank or cistern and booster pump to be able to use more than 5 GPM at a time.
 
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