[condor]

Originally Posted by saisree

We can use HDPE pipes with any motor. Basically, these pipes goes to the depths of the borewell and GI pipe will be connected from the head of the bore well to the motor for safety purposes.

A bit confusing here.

The submersible pump is lowered to the water, using pipes attached to each other. The pump is attached /screwed to the bottom most pipe. The top-most pipe is pretty much holding the rest of the weight below. The water flows inside these pipes

I have seen GI pipes for the water and the above setup.

PVC pipes as casing from top up to where the rock is.

From your post above, it is not clear if GI pipes are being replaced by HDPE pipes from top, all the way to the bottom where the pump is - and also as passage for the water being pumped out.

[ArTigor]

Originally Posted by condor

A bit confusing here.

The submersible pump is lowered to the water, using pipes attached to each other. The pump is attached /screwed to the bottom most pipe. The top-most pipe is pretty much holding the rest of the weight below. The water flows inside these pipes

GI pipe, PVC pipe and HDPE pipes all can used in the shaft below ground in submersible pipe.

PVC Pipe:- In one of my bore rigs I have multiple PVC 'Swastik' pipes 2 inch internal diameter (each 20 ft length) fastened to each other with grooves and socket type connection which goes From the collar of the Bore opening 2 ft above ground level all the way to the submersible pump. The upper most pipe is held in place with help of Clamps, fastener and a cover plate.

HDPE Pipe:- In other 2 bore rigs I have HDPE 'Hasti' pipe a single 400 feet pipe 2 inch diameter, which connects the collar of the Bore opening at ground level to the submersible pump. This pipe acts as the load bearing member too i.e. the Pump & motor hang with its support. In this case we have also tied a heavy duty Nylon rope to the pump while lowering it and tied it to an anchor pin near the bore just as a safety measure to pull out pump if HDPE pipe gives way(which in our years of experience has never happened). The HDPE pipe at the collar above ground level rests with the Clamps fastened and placed on the cover plate over the bore opening 2 feet above ground level. Then at the top a L shape GI pipe(connector) is connected to the HDPE pipe and the distribution pipe is then connected to the GI Pipe.

Having GI pipe through entire length of the bore shaft makes it a bit costly and hence is not used as standard at least in our region.

[sreejith.j]

Most of the Questions of OP have been answered by others however adding my two cents.

1. How to know the exact location of good water resource? Should I take help of geology department or any third party support who can help in pointing out right location?
There are many available in the market who call themselves as Diviners and claim to identify the right source points. I never felt its the truth, Off-late the water sources in South Bangalore are over 1,000 Feet and I wonder how a person can identify where water is flowing 1,000 feet below him using a coconut or a copper wire. I feel its Hogwash to be honest.

2. Adjacent to my land there is another land which has eucalyptus trees. I was said that these trees reduce the ground water drastically. If true, will it be still good option to go for borewell on my land?
hitting a top source of water in Bangalore limits is highly unlikely as most of the top level sources are already tapped into and drained. So the tree should not make a huge Difference as per me.

3. What is the best time in year for drilling a borewell?
Peak Summer, when water level is at its lowest.

4. Do I need to take special permission for drilling?
If the location is within Bangalore then you need a permission from Cauvery Bhavan, i guess its the BWSSB office. I am not aware about the rules for farmland though.

5. What are the common methods adopted for drilling bore-wells?
There are two types which is commonly used, One Mobile bores where the max drilling limit is 450 to 600 feet and the other ones where the drilling rig is mounted on the truck. Considering yours is a farmLand and no problems in access the regular truck mounted Rig should be good.

6. What are the types of casing pipes used in bore-wells?
Initially 10 to 20 feet they will use PVC casing so that any sewage from surface does not seep in.And they will use MS Casing Pipe till they hit the rock, usually about 60 to 70 feet.


7. How are charges for drilling a borewell calculated?
The pricing the staggered. the deeper you go higher is the cost per feet. It would be better to ask around and understand what is the usually depth of bore-wells in the surrounding and prepare an estimate along with cost of Drilling, Pump and wiring. Go ahead only if its making financial sense else look for alternative methods. If you are drilling a 6 inch Bore and the depth is about 1,100 Feet your approximate costing is 2 Lakhs - Drilling and 1.5 lakhs for pump and wiring.

8. What stuff I might encounter during drilling? Any worst case scenarios, I should be aware of?
Go with a good driller so that his rig of good quality and no issues will be there. Other than that it should not be a big hassle as you are not doing this within the city.

Originally Posted by condor

A bit confusing here.

The submersible pump is lowered to the water, using pipes attached to each other. The pump is attached /screwed to the bottom most pipe. The top-most pipe is pretty much holding the rest of the weight below. The water flows inside these pipes

I have seen GI pipes for the water and the above setup.

PVC pipes as casing from top up to where the rock is.

From your post above, it is not clear if GI pipes are being replaced by HDPE pipes from top, all the way to the bottom where the pump is - and also as passage for the water being pumped out.

GI Column pipes are not used much these days in connecting the pump from the borewell bottom to surface as costs are higher. The standard these days are either a PVC column pipes or HDPE pipes.the PVC pipes have threaded ends and they are tightened and connected and has a higher weight bearing capacity. Usually used in places where there is a head room or more than 15 feet so that removing and inserting is possible incase of maintenance. HDPE pipes are more versatile as it can be rolled up and comes in variety of gauges. For a. 1,100 feet borewell usually 20Kg/ pipe is recommended and when using in lower depths usually 12Kg ones are used along with a rope as failsafe

[pranavGTI]

Originally Posted by GRAND23

Dear BHPians,
Although there are many websites on borewell, I am relying on BHPians answers since I find it more genuine.

Borewell guys or your neighbor farmers would have good information on finding a right geologist. There are people using traditional practices as well. Once you're done with locating the spot, talk to the borewell contractor for hiring a vehicle. Normally they wouldn't talk about the charges, initially. As you need for the farm I suggest a 6 1/2 inch drill. That would be sufficient. Recently my uncle had a borewell drilled in his farm in Tamilnadu. He got water in 200ft but he went onto drill 875ft as summer is approaching. When the bottom drill bit touched 40ft, loose soil from the top started falling inside. To stop that a bigger casing pipe of 9ft was inserted. Then an inner casing pipe of 42ft was inserted. I've attached the rate/ft detail for your reference. That should give you an idea. PVC casing pipes cost extra. There is some other charge for the people working in the drill machine, which i'm not sure about.

[RaviK]

Few more points that you should evaluate -

1. What is the water output you're looking for ? In my hometown area, 4 inch or higher delivery pipe is serious commercial farming, e.g. 3-4 inches enough for mustard/other low water reqiuirement crops or used in conjunction with canal water, while 6 inch delivery is enough to sustain few acres of paddy on its own.
2. Talk to nearby farmers/borwell drillers to chalk out which model suits you better, e.g. in low water availability/poor water quality area, filter based tube wells are better suited, with higher success rate & lower costs(though lower output), cavity based tubewells on the other hand promise much higher output, but higher costs & low success rates.
3. Also try to consider if you can start from a lower cost point and ease into it gradually ? Probably a home spec submersible pump is enough to get you started (I got one installed for ~20k few years back), will be enough to sustain some trees and a small vegetable landscape. Once you spend, say a year with it, you'll be able to better gauge your appetite for further investment.

Please note that some of the points may not be applicable to you (derived based on conditions in a border town in Rajasthan) .

Happy farming

[green_ninja]

Originally Posted by GRAND23

Dear BHPians,
I am here to post something different than automotive stuff today.
.
........
Although there are many websites on borewell, I am relying on BHPians answers since I find it more genuine.

What is the acreage of your farm?

Does it have an open well or other irrigation source i.e. in other words, will the borewell be your only source of irrigation?

General tips:

1. Find a driller and ask them to bring their own water diviner. Negotiate payment only if the point is viable as it is their diviner identifying the point.

2. Negotiate price and length of casing pipe with the driller before drilling. Compare price with the same pressure rated pipe from a reputed manufacturer like Finolex. If the difference is not significant go for the reputed manufacturer. You will likely face pushback as the drillers make a big profit on casing pipes.

3. Summer is the best time to drill. Try to identify the natural drainage path of the rainwater in your farm land and drill at the lowest point in the path. If possible create a small pond surrounding the borewell, so that the well can be recharged naturally during the rains.

4. The standard borewell dia for farms is 6.5inches and only go for higher dia if drilling very deep i.e. greater than 1000ft.


Good luck with your borewell.


@amol4184 - 900ft is not that deep in most parts of TN these days. It is kind of the norm. In some of the drier areas like Namakkal they drill up to 1800ft. In fact one of my relatives drilled two borewells of 1600ft and 1700ft at his poultry farm and struck very little water. I told him if kept going a few hundred feet more he might strike oil but not water. It is kind of a terrifying situation.

[nandrive]

I guess people have already given you all the relevant helpful information. I don't have anything positive to add to that. I just want to take out my frustrations here, if it's OT, admins please delete my comment.

<Rant>
I come from a place which is situated in the heart of western ghats. We have drilled a 400ft deep borewell 5 years ago and now we are witnessing lesser output, so planning to dig deeper one more. In 5 years in my village number of borewells have increased multifold. You might have read on this thread that someone pointed out you need to keep operating around the year to avoid silt. Since electricity is free people keep pumping water as long as they can(until borewell runs out of water, wait for refill, repeat) even during heavy rain there by not allowing ground water level to rise/recharge. This is a rat race where everyone is going to lose. I don't know what will happen if this continues. I have no answers, regulating anything with respect to farming is next to impossible. We are not digging borewells, we are digging our own graves.</Rant>

[Sankar]

The large number of borewells drilled into confined aquifers will deplete the water source in due course of time. Though aquifers are considered renewable source of water the confined aquifers take a long time to recharge. Dig it deeper and it it will tap into another aquifer even far deeper that will also run dry in due course of time and effectively be rendered useless for the rest of our lives (it will recharge but maybe for use a few generations later). Recharge solutions should be considered by everyone who is digging a new bore, for our own good.

So if there is a choice and if it is an option an open well is the best source of water, its part of unconfined aquifer which recharges easier and faster. But I do realise that for many who is into large scale farming it may not be feasible. Anyway for others it may be considered as an option if its viable.

In our bit of agriland (sloping elevation) there is a small open waterbody (pond) at the lower elevation which is mostly available throughout the year and a diesel water pump for irrigation. The open well on higher ground at a distance reaches depthwise to the same elevation as this water body which means the well is feeding off this same water table. I checked Bhuvans website and the whole area is shown vertical yellow stripe which means >80 metres 50-100 lpm. Anyway there is no bore on the land and so far there is no need. This area is not considered as water rich and if the map is zoomed out to include the nearby taluks many areas are already in red.

Originally Posted by nandrive

Since electricity is free people keep pumping water as long as they can(until borewell runs out of water, wait for refill, repeat) even during heavy rain there by not allowing ground water level to rise/recharge. This is a rat race where everyone is going to lose. I don't know what will happen if this continues. I have no answers, regulating anything with respect to farming is next to impossible. We are not digging borewells, we are digging our own graves.

True.

Edit: Excessive withdrawal of ground water can also cause sinkholes.

[condor]

Originally Posted by nandrive

We have drilled a 400ft deep borewell 5 years ago and now we are witnessing lesser output, so planning to dig deeper one more.

Please, before drilling again, explore options for water recharging systems. Let filtered water go back into the borewell.

If you can show even some improvement, then others too in your village can benefit. Why I say "some" is - if other borewells are connected to the same source as yours, then the improvement from your recharge system will be spread amongst all the connected borewells.

Better would be to collect sufficing information, get them together, and hopefully some will join you in the effort.

[nandrive]

Originally Posted by condor

Please, before drilling again, explore options for water recharging systems. Let filtered water go back into the borewell.

Better would be to collect sufficing information, get them together, and hopefully some will join you in the effort.

We actually filter some rain water and recharge the borewell directly(we are located very near to chirapunji of South, so we get lot of rain), and we also use water very judiciously. During rainy season we just operate pump once in a week for about 15 to 20 minutes to avoid silt. Still year after year water level is going down. Now talk of the (town) village is that, since we don't pump water 24/7, we are seeing lesser output, so friendly advice we get is to operate pump always just like others. So we thought digging deeper would be better option, atleast it will protect us until someone else dig more deeper.

[condor]

Originally Posted by nandrive

We actually filter some rain water and recharge the borewell directly... Still year after year water level is going down.

Water being a common resource, such steps need to be followed by every one for better results. So I will go back to my point - how many in the village are following this approach ? Water is often not in pockets - we dont know how the source is deep down below - in under-ground streams / pockets. One person doing the recharge will not help much.

Btw, your approach of operating once in a week would be the right one.

Water is more precious than Gold - future wars would be for it. We need to preserve, and not be throwing it away .. like water.

[rdst_1]

Since you are not planning to do commercial farming, I would advise to go with a smaller size with respect to diameter of the borewell. Due to geographic reasons, we only get the option of a 4 inch dia and in that we only installed a 1.5 inch dia pump of only 1.5HP. However, with the use of sprinklers, instead of flood irrigation (which wastes a lot of water), I am able to easily irrigate my 2 acres of land.
Also, right at the outset, try and design for borewell recharging. What is usually recommended is to find the lowest point in your land and then landscape the rest of the fields so that all the rainwater gets directed to that point. You can also see if a solar pump makes sense for you as these are available with lots of subsidy through the government.

[2500cc]

I am planning to drill a borewell at my farm during the first half of April. The land has been barren for almost 30 years. Now, I'm planning to take up farming and as I type, the land is getting cleaned. The next task is to get the borewell drilled.

I got a geologist to help me with marking the water point and according to him, there's a source where I have to drill between 800-1,200 ft and I will get about 2.5-3" of water.

Now many are saying, if I go over 1,000 ft , I'll have to use GI pipes instead of PVC. But my concern using GI pipes is, my expenses will shoot up considerably.

I'd be grateful if someone could throw some insight on which pipes to use and the pros and cons.