DIY Shallow Water Well | Building Off-Grid

[@AmbitionStrikes]

💦We still can't believe Riley's crazy idea worked! What should we do with all of this water?!

[@akdisney]

no deep well

[@nabilsautoservice5852]

A nice garden or a green house maybe

[@shz7210]

Artifical Pond with fish

[@ronmcgill1811]

It was good decductive reasoning. Solid infernce and you were correct. You trusted your gut with and it worked. Good job.

[@hillbilly8391]

Add some storage; get it analyized, and coubt your blessings.

[@bearheadridge]

Not in a 100yrs would I climb into an unshored hole. Glad you got water.

[@FordManiac76]

Here in northern British Columbia all the shallow wells are four feet in diameter with the filter cloth rapped around and the drain rock on the outside, for 2 reasons= #1 large reserve of water can sit at the bottom of the well accumulating while you sleep and not freeze using an insulated lid and maybe a heat lamp when really cold. Yo will have to move your cistern inside or burry it. Heat tape can be your best friend if you got power #2 over a long period the well will accumulate micro fine mud, silt and debris that need to be cleaned out or the well will shallow and your pump will pump it throughout your system. Most times it can be pumped out using a sewage truck or heavy duty trash pump but being able to go down the well with a ladder to really clean it out is best. Filters work for a while then they clog up fast 23 years later and I’m still learning the tricks to northern living

[@philreynolds7216]

Getting down in that hole with no shoring is probably the single most dangerous thing you’ve ever done. Please be careful.

[@tptwk]

100% correct!

[@gnash58]

I was thinking the same thing.

[@JonBoyBrowsing]

Gave me the heebies every single time. Young uns dont know what to really fear...

[@billwang4086]

My first thought too. made me cringe every time some dirt fell in the hole

[@0ldGuy]

couldnt agree more with this, cave ins happen so fast and with no warning, there would literally be nothing that could be done to save him

[@coreywalters8334]

Great job guys! I would caution you though about getting into excavations. Coming from my own career field in the water and sewer business, you need to look into trenching and shoring requirements. It doesn't take a deep excavation to collapse and put a very small amount of dirt on you to kill you. Please be careful! 1 cubic foot of soil weighs over 100 lbs, and if thats on your chest then you can't breathe

[@vrostand6832]

Safety officer Courtney should have been yelling the hell out to get out of there without shoring.

[@sashagray319]

Agreed. Reckless Riley has a reputation for doing “dangerous” things, but this was the first time I was seriously concerned for his safety. Trench collapse is no joke.

[@suburban404]

I agree 💯. That was sketchy.

[@sandratweedale2579]

My husband also was in sewer and water excavation, in fact in charge of safety and management, you sir would’ve had your butt kicked! And you would’ve cost the company thousands in hefty fines. Shoring boxes in your situation very tough I understand but keep in mind you’re a family man now. Still think you’re amazing though 🥰🇨🇦👵🐶🤗

[@ORSkie]

Yes! Then when he brought the Jackhammer in there, I thought he was going to cause a slough for sure with him under it!! 😱 Glad he survived it.

[@BillCarlson]

In regards to water processing - you'll want to get it tested and make sure it doesn't have heavy metals in it or something like that. It will probably be hard water, so you'll want to do a combination of filters and then a water softener. We use a single filter here, but our water is so dirty that we end up replacing the $120 filter every 3 months or so. Then the water softener uses (for 2 people) about one 40lb bag of salt every two weeks. If your water has biological stuff in it, or if you're going to store it in an IBC tote, you might want to consider a UV light filter. I wouldn't bother with a reverse osmosis system, as those tend to throw away a ton of water as 'waste'. I really hope you're able to produce a decent amount consistently!! Might still need to get water in the winter, but with the road in place you should be able to do that a lot easier!

[@kearnsey64]

Knowing Reilly, the filtering portion of the project has already been spec'd out and purchased 😂!

[@davidclark2286]

Remember they have a tank that is surpossed to be big enough to last from end of summer to spring, but if any doubt about sufficiency supplementing with rain water would be sensible and reduce amount of water around the house in mud system. Riley had not wanted to collect rainwater because he did not want to mess with filters, but the reality is any water source is going to require filters (even the atmospheric machine had the filters) although the water they had in the road excavation looked really clean.

[@andrew6446]

@BillCarlson Good to know about the reverse osmosis filter, thanks

[@nssomedude]

Question......... Is there a way you could "split" your house to potable like kitchen sink for drink and cooking and use the accumulator for that, and then the rest of the plumbing use water from the well for bathrooms and all other water needs.

[@macclark4112]

@@andrew6446 As long as you have water storage inside the Garage. And a consistent flow the REVERSE OSMOSIS is exactly what is needed. Makes your water consumable

[@garan2287]

The googly eyes on the excavator are fantastic!

[@CS-uc2oh]

This is the comment they "love" but not all the ones telling him how he risked his life like a fool getting into that hole.

[@MrEpepe]

Attach a rope or chain to the pump before lowering. If you have to pull it out of the pipe, do not put any load on the production pipe or the power cable. Good luck!

[@GeneralEOD]

Don’t use galvanized wire or metal in drinking water wells - over a long period of time the galvanizing chemicals will eventually end up in your useable supply.

[@wadebeauchaine1297]

What a cute little boy!!

[@ahorseman4ever1]

Yeah! Very exciting! Our concrete place also sells 3 foot diameter 2 foot tall rings that slip on to each other for the purpose of shallow wells. I'm sure they can be found close to you as well. It would allow all the water that is in your drain rock to be available to pump. If this simply isn't enough water in the culvert this is an option to increase your water. Love your idea Riley! Again yeah! I saw another comment about shoring in an excavation. In my past life I'm a retired firefighter/emt. I had this call where a guy was in a trench and it collapsed. He was only buried up between his abdomen and chest. It took hours to get him out safely and he was having a tough time breathing due to the weight of the dirt pressing in on his diaphragm. Please don't go in a hole without someone around and a shoring box would be best. I know you are reckless Riley and by all accounts should have a giant S plastered on your chest. Cause you are amazing. Maybe a harness and a rope so they could pull you out if necessary. I too used to be invincible until one day I came off a roof on to frozen ground and ended up with a open book fracture of my pelvis. Deb and I love you guys and we haven't even met you so we want you around for a very long time.

[@bennym1956]

Yup

[@mikeduda3173]

Thanks for the that. I love them too❤

[@Huzzahgamers_inc]

Amen to that! Safety first is no joke. We are far less invincible than we realize. And Just so you guys Know I am VERY near your guys, so if you ever just need a hand let me know, I am a Veteran, Father and Husband and would be there to offer a hand if ever needed especially with Safety!

[@ohary1]

Your biggest challenge could have the simplest of solutions and much more economical. Just make sure it's uphill (and 75' or so, check with your local health regulation) of your septic leach field. Congrats!

[@michaelmcclure8673]

I would definitely mark that area a no parking spot. And please be careful climbing in to open pits like that. Lil Oliver needs both parents around.❤❤❤

[@Kneemako]

Great work. Make sure to read to Oliver every day. Keep up the Great work!

[@fyuriusryage5353]

That's a ton of lumber stacked up next to the storage shed, I bet something new is planned! Can't wait! BTW, we need more dogs!

[@samjubilee6593]

Cats! Maine Coon?

[@gavincline209]

I noticed that too. Was my first thought. Lol

[@thomastimothy777]

It’s for their cabin build.

[@pgerry9400]

Looks like you may have a winner !

[@dscottpeterson6653]

So very cool. Make sure to cap it somehow when Oli starts crawling.

[@beckycrump8831]

A well head is needed anyway to keep debris and critters from contaminating the well. Slope the dirt on top away in all directions to keep run off from contaminating it too.

[@hendogg02]

This winter would love to see content on an excavator rebuild.

[@anibaldamiao]

Nothing beats that cute little baby as an addition to this homestead

[@lucashouston651]

@AmbitionStrikes My wife and I have been fighting the similar battle of finding water as well. We actually have a water company running water through our land but refuse to let us connect to it. Its been over a year of stressing. We had even hired an attorney but still no success. I watched this and became inspired and looked for the lowest spot on our property to dig a shallow well and actually found remnants of an old well! Now the struggle is getting and excavator through all the trees, lol. Thanks for the upload, its been very helpful

[@AmbitionStrikes]

Sending you some of our luck, and hoping you hit water!! 🤞🤞🤞

[@ProjectsWithPat]

Oliver’s facial expression there at the end is so cute!

[@im2bz4stupidity]

Congrats! You Sherlocked this one! Observation and logic win the day! Since you believe your water is likely seasonal, which makes perfect sense, have you considered a large storage tank? Pump the storage full during the spring, when you've got plenty, and use it as a reserve for when the flow rate drops below your needs later in the year - add a couple solar-powered, UV LEDs to the tank, to prevent pathogen contamination. It'll take a few years to figure it all out, but you've made the most important part of it all happen, already - finding a source. Everything else is just planning and logistics. Given the water source, it should be very clean and safe, once the dirt/sediments finish washing out, but testing is always a good idea. As for the notion of an RO system, it's a good idea, just in case of future issues and to reduce mineral load, and can be done without wasting your precious water. The RO can provide you with excellent drinking/cooking water, while the "waste" from it can be collected in a separate tank for use in toilets, showers, watering plants, etc. You could even use it for a small, lined, fish pond - a source of protein, and mental health breaks. I use an RO on my houseboat, filtering lake water for drinking/cooking. If you look on Amazon for "iSpring UVF8 LED UV Water Filter", you'll find a very long life, 12vdc-24vdc, UV sanitizer, for use with RO filters - it comes with an AC/DC wall wart. I have one on the intake side of my RO, and another in the line leading from the RO/tank, to the tap. I skipped the wall wart, and ran connections directly to my solar system's battery bank. Testing has shown the water to be very close to distilled pure. No pathogens, of any sort, and minimal mineral solids. The only filtration that occurs before the RO is a sediment filter, in line, on the intake side of my shallow well pump. At worst, I'd expect your water to be equal to our lake's water, so all the above should work well for you. Regardless, figuring out what to do with, and how best to use your newly found water, is a fantastic problem to have.

[@suzyschore5014]

I always get a giggle with the googlie eyes lol ❤😊

[@baddawg6213]

Lol, Riley, Your as crazy as a bag of cats, The funny part is you guys actually pull it off, congratulations, with the rain and the snow melt you got it made, I"m sure your going to mode it out with a well pump and cap,,

[@DarylOster]

Dig even deeper if possible (say 5' deeper than water level for some reserve capacity) and stack concrete culvert sections up vertically to 3' higher than surface level then back fill around the culvert with gravel. Put a membrane (like on your road) over the gravel and cover with soil.

[@John-N797]

Interesting I have just said almost the same thing before I saw your comment. Seems you are familiar with how wells work.

[@LesNewell]

Normally I'd agree with you but they hit rock so they couldn't go any deeper. That's why they broke out the big drill to try to get the pump lower. The area forms a rock bowl and they dug the hole pretty much in the middle of the bowl, so hopefully near the lowest point.

[@bigdog2024]

@@LesNewellagreed, the next step would be blasting the rock out to make to collection bowl deeper but that’s probably not worth it and do we want Riley playing with explosives? In spring they will have excess water to store in that atmospheric unit tank and if that’s not enough they have the totes

[@greggb1416]

Should the bottom level (10-15feet high) of culvert sections be perforated with holes in the sides..?

[@DarylOster]

@greggb1416 I have never seen them perforated. There is plenty of circumference at bottom for water to get in.

[@susanhirtzel8410]

Riley is a genius!

[@kenhartman9981]

Hi Susan where are you from?

[@franknovak8060]

Those googley eyes were money well spent...love following the progress you guys have made.

[@MRBenchwork]

OMG the googly eyes are so much fun to watch

[@johnzuver]

My late grandfather who is born in 1900. Talked about developing springs when I was a boy. There was a seep and in the spring there would be water coming out of the ground. This was on a hill and we made a pond with a pipe that we could take water out of a type of gravity, feed, set up. As the years went by, we got more and more water now the spring free flows water year-round it seems to be cleaning out itself of a lot of sediment as more and more water comes out of the ground. Probably would be a good idea to put a drain at the top of your culvert pipe for springtime overflow

[@cameronhamer9432]

A shed over the well is a good way to protect the well , keeps it from freezing in winter , can lock it up to keep the children and pets safe .👍🇨🇦

[@seccat]

I'm glad they are using their GoPros for what they where designed for... To be beat on.

[@scruggsbuster9458]

you should have it samples to make sure that it is drinkable😮 no contaminated water😊 But it is exciting to know that you have water that mother nature provided for you good job guys😂❤❤

[@freddien7]

Yeeahh Free Water!!, Remember in the winter, Snow falls from the sky!! Snow is water falling into a cold zone turning into Snow, so you could save some snow in a tote, that will turn to water. if you run short. Have you secretly got a big building you are gonna build? as there seems to be a lot of Wood piles around the property.!! Good luck with the make shift well hope it works, Thanks for the video Love from UK. x x

[@shanelofton4329]

Geting inside of a hole that deep without a trench box is extremely dangerous. Every year people die on construction sites because of this when they neglect safety precautions.

[@jeffgarner3178]

My thinking as well.

[@thaddeustroyer]

Thought the same, especially when he said "sandy rocky soil" here in Texas is not so bad with all the limestone but we still use trench boxes or "step excavation" to minimize cave in or sluff off in our trenches. Glad it all worked out but still scary. Now, with that said, he doesn't have the name "wreckless Riley" for nothing 😂 Love you guys, living the dream is awesome and glad we get to see it.

[@thaddeustroyer]

Forgot to.say congrats on getting water that close to the house. Very cool find and what a relief.

[@PtangPtangBiscuitBarrelSmith]

Never fear the Camera man never gets it.

[@thaddeustroyer]

@beebop4333 it is a large metal fixture placed inside the trench or hole you are working in to protect you in case the walls of the trench collapse. For an image, you can google... I'd put an image here, but YT won't let me. You can also look up trench collapse/cave in during construction and see a whole lot of people get close to being buried and some actual buried. Scary situation

[@bobkelly2447]

I think it is fantastic that you found water and got away without the sides of the hole falling in on you while you did the fine touches. doing your hole in a step like manner may have been a tiny bit safer so the banks arn't as steep... but in the end it worked out for you.... which is cool..... on the other hand Riley mentioned that just down the road is a wet spot that never dries up even in the summer ! a spring ! why not develop it or another one like it closer to the house I expect you have springs all over the place on your property.... walk around in the summer time when it is dry and see if you can find small trickles of water.... we had a spring on our property when I was a kid that we developed, we cleared out the dirt,rocks and brush and got down about 5' onto the bedrock where the water was just pouring out...in 2 spots ! so we build a concrete box around that area and then closed off the drain... this was a big box, about 8' wide and 12' long and 4' high at the far end by the pond.... yes that was alot of dirt to move by hand with a shovel, but we did it.... we poured the concrete by hand into forms we made on the spot...no rebar...that was too expensive!... when we closed off the drain for it to fill up the first time we thought it would take 3 or 4 days to fill, as it was it took under 24 hours to fill !...that spring lasted for the time we lived there over 40 years and never went dry... we did have to clean it every year... and cut the vines out of the cracks in the rocks as they restricted the flow of water. best water on the planet too! if you have a spring on your property Please for your sakes make that your water source it's far better than a well !

[@ronmcgill1811]

I love the goggly eye on the claw. Too funny.

[@alanharriman23]

Wow, what a stroke of good fortune. You will likely have an excess beyond your dreams when it is wet. Might have to drain off the excess in the spring during snow melt.🙏

[@jamesrose1191]

I like the eye ball on the excavator.

[@Mirr0r_Man771]

just loving the googlie eye on the beak!

[@paulwackerla6330]

It makes sense that there is water there as your house is in a very low part of the terrain so all that rain water would accumulate there. Great job, you guys are so resourceful. Can't wait to see the completed project.

[@betterbuilt1114]

Grab a gold pan and do a few pans of that ancient river bed.

[@danielharsh7698]

I'm happy that you have found water. I'm very happy that you have filled the hole. That was very dangerous.

[@rainman7992]

if you dig furrows across the drain field, the this will slow down any rain water coming off the hill and enabling it to sink in rather than run off, bonus, slows erosion. Also, could you dig and put in wells at other locations...you know, to increase yield or find deeper pockets.

[@Jarvis-iu2li]

Fantastic! Hopefully it ends up being a great solution. You might want to keep the equipment and vehicles away from the well. Always little drips and leaks which will take no time to contaminate your shallow well. Have a great week!

[@TheCybrKnyf]

Excellent job on that shallow well - On another note, that is the CUTEST baby! ;)

[@johnjr3870]

Cool, and its the dry hot time of year. Add your storage and boom.

[@dpartridge2325]

You can increase the height of the water table and therefore the water production of the well by building ditches above the well that catch water runoff from snowmelt and rain and slow it down and allow it to soak into the ground. Do some research on groundwater recharge and you might be able to get even more water out

[@adventuresingoatfarming6754]

The one thing that you should have done was to test for gold at the bottom of your well . All the signs are there for the potential for a small gold mine.

[@jeffreydamntreat2076]

That’s what I said!!

[@petramundo]

absolutely. ancient river bed and bet its got gold in there... question is how much?

[@AirmanJH]

The whole video I was saying two things. “Why is he in that hole?!” And “Why doesn’t he have a gold pan in that hole?!”

[@evil17]

He did find gold, water!

[@petramundo]

no doubt for them that was gold enough :)@@evil17

[@jdanderson6400]

We are building a 4000 square foot shop building in northeast Texas. With that much roof, 1" of rain will produce about 3000 gallons of water. We bought four 3000 gallon rain water catch tanks. Our filtration will be 100 micron, 50 micron, 20 micron, and 5 micron sediment filters. Then an activated charcoal filter, and lastly a UV light to kill any biological content. We have a air presurized holding tank and a pressure activated pump.

[@DeanJohnson67]

aside from the modern tools "excavator" this is how it is still being done all around the world

[@ericfemrite7652]

Sweet……H2O!!!!!! Proud of y’all!

[@jameswolfe7485]

A few years back I lived in an old country cabin with a shallow well dug in the basement. I was pretty happy with it until the day I found a drowned mouse floating in it! You not only need to filter the water for particulates, but you need to take precautions to prevent ANY animals (or even bugs) from crawling into the pipe and getting into your water. You should probably have it tested to be certain there's no natural contaminants in the water. Good job!

[@jbgamblin]

You guys are magic together. You believe in each other even when the other might be hairbrained. I for one. your dynamic is strong and reassuring

[@robertschauer376]

Great progress on the well. Oliver is adorable with his smirk style smile :)

[@karlborgfeldt]

3 weeks ago I had the flu and I stumbled upon your channel. I watched "We Bought an Abandoned Homestead" video and I enjoyed it so much. I then went to your channel and went back to your first video and started watching them in order. I've just finished and I can't wait for your next video. Are you going to get the abandoned trucks running? What are you going to do with the cabins?

[@peterhicks1093]

Love the progress on the well. Just wish you would shore up when you go below grade. Would hate for it to collapse on you. It’s already done, just food for thought on future projects. Keep safe “reckless” ;)

[@KuzweKanfarms]

That's so cool Guys!!!!

[@kenhartman9981]

Hi KuzweKanfarms where are you from?

[@KuzweKanfarms]

I am up in Northern Idaho

[@kenhartman9981]

@@KuzweKanfarms Nice place I live in Oklahoma City but I'm currently working here in Syria

[@kenhartman9981]

@@KuzweKanfarms Are you originally from Idaho?

[@KuzweKanfarms]

No Texas

[@janetkoball44]

This might just work!? You two are so holding your breath and if course, happy with what has happened so far. I'm glad someone came by and is able to give you a hand. I'll be ready to enjoy another episode of this exciting adventure. Hi dear baby!

[@jenateer2518]

Very good idea that seems to have worked. Congratulations. Please don’t take unnecessary risks like climbing down in holes again. I know you have been scolded by everyone watching already. But you have a family that needs you.

[@68lehman]

Oliver is definitely a Happy Camper! Take Care You All! Tom

[@oldbatwit5102]

Congratulations on finding what looks like a usable amount of water. Great news.

[@MrHughk1]

You should take a look at "red poppy ranch", they built an insulated cistern system, looks like you could store a years worth of water if you wanted to. With your solar excess of energy you could probably look at distilling your drinking water and just filter for septic and washing.

[@honkingdonk3981]

Heath and Cedar are awesome!

[@steventrostle1825]

Great idea NOW Get OUT of that Hole, Need more of that handsome young man, he's coming into his own, soon he'll be IN CHARGE!

[@larrybartlett7419]

You might have a gold mine. You got round rock sand deposit, if you find black sand and quartz, you definitely should pan for gold

[@StephenShreds]

There’s gold in them there hills

[@bigdaddy741098]

I enjoy your videos so much that I always want more because they are over way too fast.

[@susanhollis5015]

Sweet, sweet, baby, Oliver! He is so blessed to have you two as parents! 😊❤❤❤👍👍

[@coastalgaming1594]

Oh awesome! You can put a huge tank up on the hill above the property to store water in the wet season and have gravity pressurized water to the house. I'm excited for you guys!

[@mikeunum]

16:17 - Ahhww that little smile. It remembers me of my kids when they were in that lifetime. Some little tears were scrolling down from my eyes.

[@citizencain454]

Yay!!! Congrats ! And this opens up the creation of all kinds of videos for water sourcing/processing at the Riley and Courtney ranch!

[@fredcarlson5775]

Oliver is a cute young man and why not he has great looking parents, now Riley you can't be reckless anymore you have two people that depend on you ❤ love you guys

[@68lehman]

Way Cool Results!

[@AmbitionStrikes]

We still can't really believe it! 🤯

[@Pool-guy]

Round cobble in sand layer, sounds like the beginning of a Gold Rush!

[@donalddodson7365]

That is great news. Looks very murky but may work for irrigation water. Letting it settle in the tote will be interesting, too. "Liquid gold! Eureka!"

[@ronblack7870]

they should have used a separate tote . now after a day they should switch to a new tote to see how clean it is.

[@hollandduck79]

Hello from the Netherlands. Congratulations good news that you have found water in your diy waterwell. I hope for your sake that this well yields enough water for you thanks for the video Courtney and Riley . Sincerely Hollandduck

[@Synaptic_gap]

You might consider a cistern for your next project. It would have the added benefit of storage space for any runoff you might want to collect in the future, in addition to what the well produces.

[@tbirdracefan]

They already have one from the failed water condenser.

[@xxwildergamerxx7259]

OMG the googly eyes on the excavator was the best decision ever!

[@morgansword]

One of the best things about this style of well is that it just gets better over time as the water has now a place to travel and will increase..... just how much and how fast is only a guess. I like the fact that if no contamination is in the water from where ever its coming from, then its good drinking water... mine went from about ten gallons a day to over five hundred gallons a day and would do a average of five gallons a minute at times. I was living at that time in a town called Beaver washington.... just outside of Forks washington.

[@arthurwalls9091]

Hello Courtney , Ollie , & Riley... Great job ...Once you figure out the gals or parts of gals per minute you can pump it would be prudent to set up a couple IBC Totes inside ur shop to pump full for daily use & have ur well pump set up to keep them topped off so ur ahead of any usage u might have with no waiting ( lag ) time ..., plus you'd have an easily accessable filter station & ability to add whatever ultraviolet lights & or chemicals to keep ur water safe for drinking , dishes , & bathing ... Great Job Guys ... Just keep us all posted along the way how the water production advances throughout each season , especially the Rainy season & the next DRY Season ..... 👍👍👍👍🤗🤗👋👋👋

[@wcemichael]

You might want to put some kind of cover over the area like clay, to keep contaminated water from seeping in from all your equipment. Equipment leaks and you never know if someday you'll have some kind of accident that will dump a few gallons of diesel or oil or gas or whatever. There is a city called Albion Michigan that has a natural spring in the park that people would collect gallons of water from on a daily basis. A local company was using pesticides, or some other kind of chemicals and the spring was contaminated for many years from seepage

[@timkirkpatrick9155]

Congratulations! The dry time will be late winter when the world is frozen. Cistern the production for a long backup, as I am sure you have realized.

[@Wick-d_Trucking]

I’m sure you guys already have a plan for water filtration and such, but if you don’t, I would check out “red poppy ranch” and his setup. He’s in SE Idaho and is working with a shallow well also. I think he only has to service his filtration system once or maybe twice a year. So I think it’s somewhat cost effective. Congrats on the well, your work ethic pays off!

[@celestejohnson4854]

Not sure why but this is my favorite video by far. How exciting to find water!!

[@captainhappy]

That's kind of interesting setup for a well. I would probably have made some concrete rings on top of each other in that hole, then lid on top of that, maybe some pieces of stair inside for safety, typical way, but I guess you thought this out further than I did. It's great you start getting your water troubles fixed, well done!

[@noyopacific]

I live on the north coast of California which is an area with lots of hand dug wells. When I was younger I used to clean and service them. One cool thing I learned was that on a clear day, looking up from the bottom of a 20 foot deep well you can see the stars during the daytime. I'd say that you did pretty darn good with the excavator! Thanks for the video!

[@mo0seboy]

If you're doing away with the atmospheric water generator, I'd reuse the holding tank you put in for long term storage. A couple thousand gallons buffer should help you get through months of severe drought. The water coming out of your dug well is likely to have a high clay content -- at least initially. I'd put it through a 5 micron and a 0.5 micron filter to pull the solids out. Use standard 10" filters you can buy cheap from the farm/irrigation supply rather than anything proprietary. If you plan on drinking it, I'd also plan on UV light at the very least but possibly also RO depending on what your water test results look like.

[@chandrasutton4669]

Your baby is precious!!!😊🎉❤

[@kellysherwood2863]

Congratulations you two, water is so precious on the homestead.

[@tomratcliff3514]

Congrats on WATER. Thanks for the video, I always look forward to you next "adventure'

[@joshroelofs9490]

I lived in a house with a similar shallow well in northern CA. In the summer it would almost dry up, but in the winter the water level would be nearly ground level and you essentially have unlimited water in the wet season. The house had a 5000 gallon storage tank and pressure pump. I didn’t drink the water due to concerns over contamination and water quality, but it covered all other water needs (showers, laundry, washing dishes, watering plants)

[@FordManiac76]

Yes a cistern is needed when using a small diameter pipe because not much water is stored in the pipe. More common with deep wells due to the small diameter drill casing. Most shallow wells are large diameter like 4 feet. I had a well that kept drying up in the summer so I went down on a ladder and dug the bottom out a couple feet and solved the problem.

[@dennisstgermain4187]

Congrats guys !!! You have the best channel on KZbin by far !!

[@ElijahPerrin80]

Wow, that is fantastic news and this should help with the liquefaction in the spring and dewater the whole area and if your demands increase you may be able to expand with french drains to increase the surface area. You three are amazing.

[@FordManiac76]

A lot of times the spring liquefaction is caused by melt water and surface soil sitting on frozen ground below with nowhere to drain. Drain rock right to the surface would solve this.

[@martyhanks5977]

That eye ball is everything

[@jbarvideo12]

Great Team construction! Nice to see Courtney's brother helping. Good comments from people below about testing the water and using filters.

[@dellmerlin6328]

I like the googly eyes on the excavator bucket. Courtney, could you put a big shaggy feather on the back of the bucket to give it hair.

[@PWlangford1]

Amazing I didn't know about shallow wells until this video. Now you can see why a well is so costly.

[@ronblack7870]

it's going to be surface water that percolates down. so if there's no contamination can be good. this may run dry after a while unless they get substantial rain.

[@markmitchell457]

Critters aren't too good at thinking about man made stuff. Be sure to put something over the top to keep critters from suicidal leaps into your well.That would be nasty.

[@sharonfrommann6516]

Oh yeah, Ollie is going to have his own swimming pool next year😂❤. The Lord is so good, God Bless you even more

[@retiredforlife63]

You guys are so creative and always fun to watch.

[@robertordewald8678]

Sometimes the kiss principle truly works. We know that the technology in the Water Reclamation plant was a great idea but it's just not ready yet for your application. But when you think about it, you dig a hole in the ground, add some water pipe to it plus a few other bits, and pieces. It can't be more simple. congratulations! Thank you for sharing, Best regards? Bob from Virginia USA

[@dyadica7151]

You should do a test pan of that sand and rounded cobble material, and see if there's any placer gold.

[@MIKESWILDWORLD]

That is totally awesome! That’s totally a lot of work! Best to you!! Can’t wait for the next one. Mike

[@andrew6446]

It could be time for a greenhouse

[@AmbitionStrikes]

That would be so awesome!

[@andrew6446]

a much longer growing season depending upon the design @@AmbitionStrikes

[@Sindrijo]

Definitely this!

[@rppvt]

@@AmbitionStrikes Hydroponics as well!

[@greggv8]

@@AmbitionStrikes Costco has some outdoor dog kennels that would be pretty easy to adapt to greenhouses. They're 6 feet tall so you two tall folks would need to make a raised foundation if you don't want to stoop over inside. How to adapt them to greenhouses? Use Lexan panels and bolt metal broom clips to them, then snap the broom clips onto the kennel's metal tube frame. Crawford Silver Steel Grip Clips would work. Size the panels so they're close enough at the corners for fitting aluminum corner channel or clear plastic corner/ridge cap with slits for the panels to slide in. Using the broom clips it would be easy to pull the panels off to store them in winter or pop them off for a quick harvest without baking inside the hothouse.

[@fikilenako1805]

One thing I have learned from this video is that being ambitious pays🎉