WHAT YOU should KNOW BEFORE DRILLING A NEW water WELL IN the FRASER VALLEY...
Water well drillers are PAID by the foot whether they EVER hit water or not. Do you KNOW that drilling a water well that does not produce water could literally cost you TENS OF THOUSANDS of dollars for NOTHING but a nice deep dry hole in which you get to put your savings? Does your well driller provide a written Fraser Valley Well Drilling GUARANTEE… if not, why not?
“We GUARANTEE Water!” Either We Find Water or You DON’T Pay When Drilling a Well in the Fraser Valley!
Yes! We guarantee water when drilling bedrock wells in the Fraser Valley… a few conditions do apply but we will assume much of the risk when drilling for water in bedrock. Request a complete copy our Well Drilling Guarantee with our terms & conditions. Learn more about our Well Drilling Guarantee.
Drilling a DRY Well in the Fraser Valley Can Literally Cost You TENS of THOUSANDS of Dollars... For Nothing!
“Dry Well” are the two most dreaded words for property owners when drilling a well in the Fraser Valley. Coming up empty is an all to real risk and so are the consequences of a dry hole when drilling a new water well.
Dry holes are not uncommon in certain areas of the Lower Mainland of British Columbia costing property owners plenty… we’ve seen well drilling invoices over $50,000 for absolutely nothing, that’s why we protect you with a well drilling guarantee!
We GREATLY Reduce the RISK of Drilling a DRY Bedrock Hole When Drilling for Water in the Fraser Valley!
Having a water well drilled is certainly a unique experience. You will likely be wondering, “Will I get water?” You’ll likely never spend more money for a product with less up front information than water well drilling in the Fraser Valley.
You will be told by drillers that if there’s no water in the bedrock you will still pay for the dry hole and that can be THOUSANDS – the only thing you’ll have in a dry hole is your savings! Learn about our well drilling guarantee.
FRASER VALLEY
Well Drilling Guarantee
Well Drilling Serving the Fraser Valley
Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Yarrow, Sardis, Clearbrook, Harrison Lake, Hope, Langley, Fort Langley, Surrey, Vancouver,
Aldergrove, Cloverdale, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge, Albion, Whonnock, Ruskin, Mission, Dewdney.
Why We Provide a Fraser Valley Well Drilling Guarantee:
Well Drilling in the Fraser Valley includes Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Yarrow, Sardis, Clearbrook, Harrison Lake, Hope, Ladner, Langley, Fort Langley, Aldergrove, Cloverdale, Maple Ridge, Whonnock, Ruskin, Pitt Meadows, Mission, Dewdney Area, Coquitlam, Burnaby, Surrey, Tsawwassen, White Rock, Squamish, and Whistler.
Most people quickly discover that water well drilling in the Fraser Valley is a one-of-a-kind experience. When drilling a water well you’re searching for water from a hole that may be drilled hundreds of feet in bedrock. You’re about to invest a significant chunk of change into a hole with a steel pipe standing out of the ground that’s no larger than a dinner plate in diameter.
You will be expected to pay a large invoice even if the well is dry and there is no water in the hole. If you are preparing to drill a well in the Fraser Valley, you’re probably already questioning yourself, “Will I get water, or will I end up with a dry hole?” I think it’s safe to say that in your lifetime, you will most likely not invest more money into a product with so little up-front information.
Although many British Columbia well drillers do a fantastic job of drilling wells, often drillers cannot or will not communicate. In an area like the Fraser Valley, Vancouver Island or other areas of British Columbia where the rapid rate of development and growth has exceeded the drilling capacity of the local well drillers that may create a a lack of interaction and communication even leading to misconception, abuse, and even fraud.
The following insider information about the well drilling industry will certainly assist you and help you recognize what takes place, and how to safeguard your property and your bank account!
We’ll Be There Next Week to Drill Your Well:
Scheduling to drill a well can be very challenging for the drilling industry. Drillers deal with a lot such as weather, well drilling equipment repairs, property access issues or they may simply be on another drilling site and are having to drill the hole deeper than expected.
Sometimes a well driller is asked to drill more than one hole on a property or they are re-drilling because a prior hole was deemed dry… all are valid reasons why a well driller might struggle with scheduling and be delayed getting to a job site.
Where the well drilling games begin is when a well driller is supposed to move his well drilling equipment twenty miles to the next job site, but suddenly a neighboring property across the road where he’s currently drilling asks the driller to drill a well on his property.
Because there is considerable cost to move heavy well drilling equipment miles away and then miles back, the driller puts off his waiting clients while he drills someone else’s well that was never on the waiting list.
The well drilling games might continue when a well driller might expect a well to either be shallow or a difficult drill (sometimes both). Why wouldn’t a well driller go and drill the deep, easy, close, wells first? The money holes as they are called in the industry.
The Fixed Price Per Foot Well Drilling Cost:
When you want to know the cost to drill a well in the Fraser Valley you’re certainly not doing yourself any favors when the first question you ask a well driller is, “How much per foot do you charge?!” Let’s say that the quoted well drilling cost is, $35.00 per foot for rock hole drilling.
A property owner is then informed that if there’s no water in the hole and the well driller comes up dry, the customer is still on the hook to pay the $35.00 per foot plus all additional well drilling costs. If he drills 500′ into rock that portion alone will be almost 18,000 without GST! When I say, “dry holes are painful… I’m NOT joking!”
What then, is the real motivation for a fixed price driller to be truthful when he’s drilled hundreds of feet into bedrock and has hit some water? If the well driller merely claims there’s no water, he pulls his drilling equipment and tooling out of the hole, folds up his well drilling rig, and hands the property owner an invoice for the full price.
Do you understand that you have just spent some major dollars to have your water well driller convince you that you have a dry hole without a well drilling guarantee? Please think about this before you sign a well drilling contract.
Our phones ring steady with people calling for the cost per foot to drill a well… there are many ways to play with the numbers when preparing an estimate for the cost to drill a well in the Fraser Valley, I think that what you really want to know is what is it going to cost to drill a well on your property that is producing water and how many times will you need to drill to achieve your goal?
The Water Witching Game:
There IS something to ‘witching’ or well dowsing, but whether it has anything to do with finding water, or not, is another story. The relationship that well drillers have with water well witching is very simple:
Prior to drilling a well, a driller requires a well drilling site to be chosen. A well driller wants to reduce the amount of time that he isn’t being compensated for locating the best water well site on a property, so it’s just much quicker for a driller to witch the property himself and not have to have anyone else’s input on the water well drilling location.
Typically, it’s a relief for the prospective well drilling customer to defer the site selection responsibility to someone who claims they can witch – even if the water dowser happens to be the water well driller. So, everyone is super delighted, right?
But always remember this… a well driller’s primary concern is to be able to get his well drilling rig & other drilling equipment onto the site, and back out again as easy and quickly as possible. Many of the well drilling rigs in British Columbia are super heavy, and top heavy as well. The odds are good that the driller who witched the site to to drill your water well will have also magically found the most level, flat, and easy-to-get-to location on the property!
Random drilling or the park-and-drill method may greatly increase the odds of drilling a dry hole, some well drillers also feel that the hat throwing method is helpful for choosing a well site location.
But, if you’re a bit uncomfortable with any of these methods and want to have a witched location for your well, then contact a professional well dowser in the Fraser Valley who has a very long history of success as a water finder or water witching.
A professional water finder or water witch is likely not going to be your great aunt who wants to pop over with a willow branch or coat hanger to see if she can feel something, it might be just as effective to throw your hat in the air and drill where is lands! You will know an expert water dowser when you have one on-site, it’s not a game.
Expert water finders will have extensive proven track records usually with decades of experience. It’s also important to stay away from either overhead or underground power lines, gas lines etc. because drilling near them is not an option, always make your BC One Call.
The Deep Pockets Well Drilling Game:
When witching is excluded as some drillers will not recommend it, a driller still might have a very good idea as to where the best drilling site on a property is.
Among responsible drillers it’s quite surprising that they often pick close to the same spot – not always – but often enough. If a well driller is unscrupulous, he will try to size up a prospective well customer and if he determines the client as a ‘sucker’, he will chose to drill in a location on the property that is likely NOT going to produce any water.
Once the driller has drilled a nice deep dry hole in which you get to put your savings, he will suggest that he move the drilling rig to the location on the property where he’s was initially quite sure that there’s a better chance of hitting water, and then WHO is the well drilling hero? Yep, while you’ve been consciously fleeced!
Many water wells throughout British Columbia seem to be clear example of this well drilling rip-off.
Don’t be a “SUCKER” Who Loses the Well Drilling Game:
Research, common sense, and choosing a responsive well driller are the things that are going to ensure that you will get a quality water well that will provide you with a great water source for years to come. If you are drilling a well in the Fraser Valley and we come up dry in bedrock, you are protected by our well drilling guarantee. You will not pay for the bedrock drilling portion of the dry hole! You don’t need to be the loser in “The Games That Some Drillers Play.”
“We Guarantee Water” in bedrock… if we come up dry you will not charge you for the bedrock portion of the project, if you’re paying a fixed price to a driller ask him if he guarantees water and if he doesn’t, why not? Please request our terms and conditions at the top of this page.
For water well drilling services in the Fraser Valley including Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Yarrow, Sardis, Clearbrook, Harrison Lake, Hope, Ladner, Langley, Fort Langley, Aldergrove, Cloverdale, Maple Ridge, Whonnock, Ruskin, Pitt Meadows, Mission, Dewdney Area, Coquitlam, Burnaby, Surrey, Tsawwassen, White Rock, Squamish, and Whistler you can request and online well drilling cost estimate.
Water Well Drilling FAQ
A: What are the Fraser Valley Well Drilling Costs?
Local Water Well Pros offers detailed estimates for the Fraser Valley well drilling cost. Our Lower Mainland Well Drilling service area includes Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Yarrow, Sardis, Clearbrook, Harrison Lake, Hope, Langley, Fort Langley, Surrey, Aldergrove, Cloverdale, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge, Albion, Whonnock, Ruskin, Mission, Dewdney and Vancouver.
Request detailed well drilling estimates for the Fraser Valley at https://LocalWaterWellPros.com/
We quickly provide detailed estimates outlining the cost to drill a well in your specific area, each area will be unique and the well drilling costs will not be the same from area to area. You will be asked to provide some general information about the property. We will carefully research your project with existing local data and respond quickly, often the same day depending on seasonal volume.
Are You Preparing to Drill a Well in the Fraser Valley?
We are local well drilling experts with a team of skilled crew of well drillers and certified well pump technicians working together successfully completing many water wells in the Fraser Valley and Lower Mainland of British Columbia.
Water well drilling costs throughout the Fraser Valley depend on numerous factors. The drilling cost per foot may vary by location, drilling depth and casing diameter. 6″ diameter is the standard size for most domestic water wells in the Fraser Valley and British Columbia.
The average Fraser Valley well drilling cost in 2020 is $47.00 to $55.00 for 6″ diameter. This estimate includes drilling and casing combined. When drilling in rock steel well casing is not required the drilling cost without casing will be in the range of $35.00 to $37.00 per foot.
By the way… Local Water Well Pros guarantee water in bedrock water wells located in the Fraser Valley, if we do not hit water in rock you do not pay! You may want to request information about our well drilling guarantee and conditions.
If your driller is not guaranteeing water why not? We are in the business of locating water we are not in the business of just drilling holes and charging by the foot. Our Fraser Valley well drilling guarantee keeps us fully accountable!
Additional Costs When Drilling A Well in the Fraser Valley
There are other drilling costs when drilling a well in the Fraser Valley. Surface seal average cost $825.00, drive shoe estimate $250.00. There is the possibility of stainless-steel well screen installation if water is not located in bedrock, cost: $1350.00 per 4′ section of screen, more than one well screen will possibly be required but not generally.
Well liners are installed to prevent a new drilled well from collapsing, they are inexpensive insurance to protect your well costing $15.00 per foot. The above well drilling costs are our current estimated rates for 2020 when drilling a well in the Fraser Valley.
Will there be other anticipated cost when drilling a well? Possibly, there could be some expenses. If a well driller in the Fraser Valley anticipates the possibility of a flowing artesian conditions on your drilling site, you could possibly anticipate some additional water well drilling costs adding to the cost of a new drilled well in the Fraser Valley.
Depending on the area being drilled many drilled wells in the Fraser Valley are completed at less than 100′ – almost without exception most well drillers in British Columbia have a minimum well drilling charge of 100′. Setting up a drilling site is costly and time consuming… a minimum charge is required.
Fraser Valley Well Pump Cost – Well Pump Installations
Most property owners will require a well pump installation once the well drilling is completed, once the well is drilled and the well depth, yield, and trenching distance etc. is known it becomes much easier to know the estimated Fraser Valley well pump cost based on the data of the competed water well.
Well drilling is costly and requires dedicated preparation but water wells are also a good investment and will typically increase the value of a property, real estate may not be easy to sell without a good proven water supply. Purchasers may not want to buy a property with a poorly producing water well and financiers may not want to mortgage them.
How would the cost to drill a well double or triple you ask? By drilling a dry hole… how would most people know where to drill for water on a property? We are very proactive when drilling for water and do not believe in the park and drill method.
Remember well drilling contractors are paid by the foot to drill a well, we are willing to protect local property owners by guaranteeing water in bedrock. If you are drilling for water in the Fraser Valley you could save thousands of dollars by hiring a well drilling contractor who is prepared to offer a well drilling guarantee. Learn more about Local Well Drilling Guarantee
Water wells in the Fraser Valley supply industry, municipalities, farms and property owners with access to water resources to satisfy domestic and non-domestic water requirements.
Water wells must be constructed and maintained to ensure groundwater resources are protected from pollution, the potential of wasted water must be minimized.
Learn more about our Fraser Valley Well Drilling Guarantee
A: A water well in the Fraser Valley is deemed a domestic water well if the water supply is for the sole purpose of household use. Domestic water well use includes drinking water, food prep, household cleaning, fire prevention, animal watering or the watering of poultry kept as either a pets or for household use, and the watering of small gardens.
If you own a private water well in British Columbia and use the water supply for domestic purposes, your water well is exempt from licensing and you are not required to pay provincial water fees and rentals. Owners of private domestic water wells in BC are deemed to have rights to the water provided the use is only for domestic purposes.
Domestic groundwater users throughout the Fraser Valley are encouraged to register their water well. Registering your Fraser Valley water well produces a record of your water usage and assists in assuring that your water use is taken into consideration by the decision-makers when managing other water license applications.
Registering your Fraser Valley well will help ensure your rights are protected when someone applies for a large volume groundwater license in your area. If the person reviewing the large volume license application doesn’t know about your well, they won’t be able to consider your water use when making their decision.
A: Community water systems and water purveyors who provide well water for home use are not deemed “domestic water sources” Other than for the purpose of domestic use all other groundwater users must apply for a groundwater license throughout British Columbia. Large rural lots with extensive gardens, landscaping or large animals may also be required to apply for a groundwater license.
A: Domestic Water Well Registration for the Fraser Valley & British Columbia
Submitting Well Records to BC Wells Database – Is Your Fraser Valley Well Registered in the BC Water Well Database?
All water wells drilled after February 29, 2016 are required to be registered in the British Columbia Groundwater Wells Database (GWELLS).
Owners of private waters wells drilled before February 29, 2016 are highly urged to register their water well to ensure domestic purpose water rights.
Check to see if your private well is currently in the BC Wells Database. You can search for a well by a Plate ID Number if the well has an ID Plate or it the Plate ID Number is available, Street Name, Well Tag Number (WTN) or other criteria in the Advanced Search.
What is the Definition of a Registered Water Well in British Columbia?
When registering your water well in BC, your well records / well log that was created at the time of well drilling will be provided to the province. The drilling report provides fundamental details about the location of the well, well construction information and the completed depth of the drilled well provided the original drilling information is available.
Registering your Fraser Valley water well is an extremely straightforward process with little time or effort needed. Submitting well logs / well drilling records for new drilled wells in British Columbia became mandatory for well drillers under the BC Water Sustainability Act as of February 29, 2016.
Registering water wells drilled prior to February 20, 2016 is not mandatory by submitting the well drilling report but is highly advised, on the part of the private domestic well owner.
Why is it Beneficial to Register Your Private Water Well in British Columbia?
Circumstances of when water well information in the WELLS BC Database could be utilized:
If an environmental spill or various other emergency situations take place and there is a requirement to get in touch with well owners in the nearby vicinity to let them know that their well water supply could be impacted.
If a water supply system or production well is being constructed, nearby water wells need to be evaluated as their may be the possibility that surrounding water wells could be impacted from the increased demand for water as a result of the increased demand.
If a water supply system or production well is being evaluated, to examine whether existing close by well owners could be impacted and possibly contacted prior to the testing assessment, and potential sites to monitor during new well evaluations.
When it comes to Environmental Assessment processes, to identify where existing water users might be affected by a significant water system project.
Purchasers and real estate professionals will be able to look-up data about an existing well (well depth, estimated yield etc.) for a particular property. The WELLS BC database is often utilized by the real estate industry and the potential purchasers of a property, who were not able to get the water well information from the previous owner. By referring to the well drilling record, private well owners can provide information about the well to water well contractors that may be required replace a well pump or perform other maintenance to the water supply.
Well logs and water well history is extremely important and often easy to misplace. If for some reason a water well record is lost it’s very important that the information can be retrieved from the WELLS BC database again.
Scientist, researchers and water supervisors utilize the uploaded water well information in the WELLS BC database to comprehend where the most accessibility to groundwater occurs, and to select priority aquifers for future study & protection programs.
Click here for the BC Water Well Registration Form
Should a Well Identification Plate be Attached to a Water Well?
A BC water well identification plate is a steel plate stamped with a unique number that is attached with a stainless-steel band to some wells. Your Fraser Valley water well may already have a well identification plate affixed to the well head.
The well identification number permits easy tracking of a specific well both in the field and in the WELLS BC Database. Water wells drilled in British Columbia prior to November 2005 do not require a well identification to be attached; nonetheless, it’s highly recommended to voluntarily affix a well identification plate to your well, please contact the Ministry of Environment through their email at [email protected].
Note: If required, please request a well identification plate when you submit your Well Registration Form to MOE.
More information about the BC WELLS Database
The WELLS BC database will only disclose information on the well construction such as date of construction, driller name, well depth, geology that the well is constructed in, estimated well yield/productivity at the time of construction, and static water level.
The WELLS BC database DOES NOT allow the public to access water quality information for private wells.
The WELLS BC database DOES NOT have any means to monitor water use – it is only a record of location and basic well drilling and completed well information provided by the well driller at the time of drilling.
British Columbia Ministry of Environment Regulations – Water Well Set-back Regulations for the Fraser Valley
Fraser Valley Water Wells Should Not Be:
1) Within a horizontal distance of 3 m (10′) of an existing building.
2) Within a horizontal distance of 30 m (100′) of any probable source of contamination or point of waste discharge to the ground, such as a privy vault, cesspool, septic effluent field, manure heap, stable or pig sty; or
3) Within a horizontal distance of 120 m (400′) of any cemetery or dumping ground.
4) Drilled within 50′ of a neighboring well – dug or drilled
Many wells in the Fraser Valley are not deep, in fact many wells will be far less than 200′ deep.
If a water well is located near potential sources of contamination it is vulnerable and can become contaminated with the possibly of causing serious illness or even death.
British Columbia Water Well Regulations & Ministry of Environment set-backs for water wells in the Fraser Valley are required to protect water resources from becoming contaminated from a multitude of possible sources.
To understand comparable well drilling depths, it’s best to locate the BC Ministry of Environment set-backs and refer to your local resources including well drilling reports, resources are available at BC Water Well Search and Fraser Valley Municipal Bylaws.
Potential sources of water well contamination include waste discharge to the ground, such as privy vaults (also known as an outhouse or pit toilet), cesspool (“overflow” pits), underground storage tanks, septic tanks an effluent field, stable or pig sty, manure heap, fertilizers and pesticides, runoff from urban areas, even a cemetery or landfill sites.
A drilled water well in or any of the Fraser Valley communities should be located on higher ground when possible to protect the well head from normal or seasonal flooding and possible surface drainage.
Both shallow wells and deep water wells located anywhere in the Fraser Valley may also become seasonally vulnerable and should be located away from surface drainage ditches and other possible sources of contamination.
A: An artesian well in the Fraser Valley is a water well that taps into a confined aquifer. Under artesian pressure, water in the well rises above the top of the aquifer, but does not necessarily reach the land surface.
A flowing artesian well is one that has been drilled into an aquifer where the pressure within the aquifer forces the groundwater to rise above the land surface naturally without using a pump.
Flowing artesian wells can flow on an intermittent or continuous basis and originate from aquifers occurring in either unconsolidated materials such as sand and gravels or bedrock, at depths ranging from a few meters to several thousand meters.
All flowing wells are artesian, but not all artesian wells are flowing wells. Learn more about flowing artesian wells in the Fraser Valley.
We Guarantee Water!
Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Yarrow, Sardis, Clearbrook, Harrison Lake, Hope, Langley, Fort Langley, Surrey, Vancouver,
Aldergrove, Cloverdale, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge, Albion, Whonnock, Ruskin, Mission, Dewdney