Borewell dilemma

[sansjunk]

Well, I too recently went through the dilemma of "To bore or not to bore"

Heard a few horror stories of newly dug borewells running dry very quickly and also after getting an estimate for my area (based on average depth) I decided to not to go for a borewell. Instead I plan to re-use rain water after filtration. For this I am planning to collect the rain water into a small tank (after filtration) and then after inspecting the water let it into my main sump. To maximize the rain water usage I plan to go for a large sump (~ 15K liters). I did a rough calculation and it turns out that its more economical to buy tankers (only during the dry months) than go for a borewell. Remember that BWSSB charges a cess (Rs. 50?) per month if you have borewell.

I also plan to re-use rinsing water from the kitchen for flushing the toilets.

I hope I don't regret later for not going for a borewell!

[girishd]

Borewell questions:

I am planning to get borewell drilled and here is what I could come up with for drilling based on rates quoted

borewell_drilling.png (4.78 KiB) Viewed 7042 times

Now can someone please clarify how to get to the final estimate (assuming drilling upto 850 ft) for the following:
1. MS casing
2. PVC
3. Labour/Welding/Cover ...

Thanks,
GD

[m3_07]

MS Casing/ PVC depth is dependent on the soil conditions. There have been instances too where the PVC SLOTTED PIPES have been inserted all the way till the end of the well....not to discourage, but letting you know the dependencies. Please go for a rigger who is trust worthy & has some credibility. The lowest does not always means the less credible & the highest always does not mean more credible. Go for a good quality MS pipe....2 mm will not do the job.

Welding - 100/ joint.
Cover cap - 150
labour is part of the drilling charges.
Transportation charges - max 1000.

[girishd]

Thanks for your quick reply m3_07!

I am going to try my luck too. From your reply and one of the previous posts I could gather the following:
1. MS casing - depth * rate (this depth can be proportional to one's good/bad luck)
2. pvc casing - depth * rate (this depth is typically smaller. 6ft from one of the prev posts)

I am planning to go with Vinayaka borewells as per reviews from one of the previous posts in this thread. They seem to be responding to all my queries well so far.

-GD

[maheshvivid2003]

if u find loose soil then go for pvc pipe or else ther is no need to go for pvc ...we have inserted pvc 20 feet depth 6000rs lil loose soil however we felt ther was no need to insert pvc pipe coz near our site none of them used pvc pipe ...we felt that we were cheated here n most of the borewell guys have good profits in pipes

[girishd]

Thanks for the caution Mahesh.

I will check if someone has really installed PVC casing for borewells near my site and decide based on that.

[girishd]

OK, here goes my borewell story.

Yesterday I got Geologist to visit my site and give borewell point. He seemed to have good knowledge about the water table for different areas and has provided consultation for various apartments/individual houses. His estimate was that we should be headed to 550ft for water.

After Geologist marked the point, Vinayaka Borewell guys came in and checked out the site location (of course they said 4:30pm and reached only after 5:30pm)and decided on plan where they would get the trucks from. Got the written quotes for drilling, MS casing and misc stuff.. The owner mentioned that the borewell guys would come in at 9:00pm and setup overnight. We should be starting the drilling at 6:00AM.

I was already excited and got up and reached exactly at 6:00AM, but there was no sign of borewell guys. I was and called the guy who visited site previous day. He came up with - "Sir borewell guys couldn't find your site at night and they slept somewhere else". He caught hold of the drivers and said they would come in soon. After an hour's delay got a call from driver for directions to the site. Eventually they reached at 7:45am and they were very quick in setting up the equipments. In less than 30 minutes the drilling started!

At about 40ft rock was hit and they continued drilling for about 2 more hours.
At 230ft initial burst of water was hit.
MS casing for 40ft was inserted and they continued drilling for another hour or so. Water pressure was pretty high by then.
They could only continue inserting another 2 rods and finally came the declaration from the borewell guys @300ft! I felt as if a test match has ended in 3 days as I had heard stories of 500ft-1000ft adventures and had mentally prepared myself for 550ft as per the geologist.
Yield according to the borewell guys was 3 inch and he commented - "Sir you can supply water to the whole layout with this kind of water pressure"

Summary:
1. Experience with Vinayaka Borewell (Mr. Venkatesh and his drilling crew) was pretty good. Most spoke Tamil and I could converse in Kannada with them. Few of the drilling boys spoke Hindi. Found most of them to be honest and nice to talk to.
2. Pretty much everyone will quote similar rates for drilling:
65-70 for 250
75-80 for 250 to 350
.... +10rs for every 100 ft till 450 and then it jumps by 15 rupees for 100ft...
3. The cheapest quote doesn't necessarily the one to go with. Ask questions like - do they have automatic machine or manual one? The automatic machine is slightly faster/easier for operation as it doesn't need manual fixing for each rod. Also ask if they have drilled upto 850+? Have heard that some guys can't go that far and are "hoping" that water would be hit earlier.
4. The googly will always be the MS casing pipe. I asked for 3mm casing pipe and negotiated to 360/ft. I was told Caltube and Lakshmi (or something like that). I read Caltube logo on the pipes and consoled myself that "all is well". As one of the members mentioned here, there is no way to measure thickness using vernier calipers! Since rock was hit @40ft in my case only 2 pipes were needed so I was kind of saved from big bill that would have come my way if rock would have hit at 100+ft.
5. Final bill was 38k from the owner + some tips + 1k for Geologist
6. Always make sure to count the number of rods when the borewell guys pull them up at the end. Initially they estimated 16 rods but after counting in the end it was 15 rods. They typically won't cheat but you have to be involved in cross checking.
7. Make sure that you provide them good access path to the borewell point. This can help cut down on initial setup time. In my case the borewell guys had to just fill 20-30 stones in a gutter and once they entered the site, it was literally 15 minutes to setup the drilling equipment!
8. As one of forum members had written before, most places won't need PVC casing. Vinayaka guys didn't even ask me for that. So I concluded that they were decent enough to not sell me something that I don't need.

So what started out as @6AM ended as by 1:30pm!

Thanks,
GD

PS: Thanks to the members who answered my queries and helped me arrive at right estimate/tips.

[sansjunk]

Congratulation Girish and very well written post!

Which part of town is your bore-well? 330 feet in my area (Sahakaranagar) is unheard of! In my apartment they tried two points (went up 1000 in one and 800 in another) and not an mm of water
Around 2L down the hole.

[girishd]

Thanks and sorry to hear about trials in your apartment.

My site is in J.P.Nagar 8th Phase. There are no apartments in this layout and not everyone in my layout has constructed house/drilled borewell may be that's why water is available at less depth. Since water table is not an infinite resource, I am planning to be a responsible citizen and do proper RWH too.

[m3_07]

At about 40ft rock was hit and they continued drilling for about 2 more hours.
At 230ft initial burst of water was hit.
MS casing for 40ft was inserted and they continued drilling for another hour or so. Water pressure was pretty high by then.
They could only continue inserting another 2 rods and finally came the declaration from the borewell guys @300ft! I felt as if a test match has ended in 3 days as I had heard stories of 500ft-1000ft adventures and had mentally prepared myself for 550ft as per the geologist.
Yield according to the borewell guys was 3 inch

Amazing find Sir.....3 Inches @ 300 feet & rock at 40 feet. This is the best one can dream & you are one lucky man !!