Drilling Deep
Fracking a water well is a pretty benign process -- and without it we'd have an unbuildable lot.
Without a productive well, the lot would essentially be unbuildable. For lots in new developments in town, there is a requirement that the land developer drill a well on each prospective lot before the development is approved. Since this is an in-fill lot that was subdivided over 50 years ago, a well wasn’t required for a building permit — only for a C.O.
So, the next step was hydrofracturing. Fracking isn’t always a dirty word. Here it’s more like a deep cleanse. New wells in the area are regularly fracked. Unlike fracking oil wells, the fluid used is just clean, fresh water. The high pressure pump drives the water into small fissures in the rock in the hope that it will clear out cuttings that plugged them up during the drilling process.
After a few days they checked the well production. The result was 1 gallon/minute. That might not sound like a lot, but at 500 ft. deep the well itself provides a pretty big reservoir. With low-flow fixtures and no lawn sprinklers, the output should be plenty.
