Saving Money with Irrigation Wells

With spring comes garden and yardwork. Planting vegetables, flowers or even a new tree or shrub not only takes time and planning, but it also takes water throughout the warmer months. If you are on a municipal water line, chances are your water bill goes up in the summer. Watering the lawn, car washes, and keeping the flowers from wilting all require water, jacking up your usage. An irrigation well can help reduce your municipal water bill.

Learn If An Irrigation Well Makes Sense For You

One way to cut costs over an extended period of time is to install an irrigation well. These wells are small, with about 18 inches of piping exposed above the ground. They may look like just a capped-off pipe, but irrigation wells can provide your home with all the water you could need for outside use.

Irrigation wells can be either a shallow well or a bedrock well. The bedrock well draws water from the bedrock layer below the topsoil and is a common choice in New England. Shallow wells are less expensive and draw from the water table below ground. Skillings & Sons has drilled irrigation wells for many clients, including homeowners, greenhouses, and garden centers, and for farms.

Installation costs vs. water bill costs

Installing an irrigation well does require a substantial upfront investment. Depending on the type of well, it can cost between $3,000 and $7,000 for installation. If you are on municipal water and use your system to run an irrigation system or fill a pool, it won’t take long for you to get a return on your investment.

For example, a lawn irrigation system that runs 3 hours a day uses roughly 1,800 gallons of water, which is equal to 3 cubic feet, the unit of measurement most municipal systems use to charge customers for water usage. If your town rate if $3 per 100 cubic feet, daily watering costs about $7.20 a day. That’s $216 a month! Over the course of a growing season, watering your lawn costs you more than $1,200! As you can see, installing an irrigation system would save you that monthly cost and even the price of a more expensive well can be recouped in about 6 years.

Other advantages of an irrigation well

Having an irrigation well means you have low-cost water to fill your pool every spring. Depending on where you live, calling a professional pool water delivery service can cost between $300 and $400. Irrigation wells provide clean, all-natural water for your pool year after year without the added cost.

Irrigation wells also provide a low-cost water source for lawn and garden irrigation systems. Many homeowners like the idea of installing an irrigation system to keep their gardens watered while they are on vacation or merely want to spend an evening away from home. During the hottest months of the year, vegetable gardens need regular watering. As most gardeners know, watering must be done either very early in the morning or as the sun is setting. This doesn’t always fit into the schedule of our busy lives, so having an irrigation system set to a timer can eliminate the conflict between wanting a beautiful, well-watered garden and also wishing for relaxing summer evenings not spent working in the garden.

Skillings & Sons has more than 40 years of experience drilling wells and working on home and business water systems. If you have any questions about whether an irrigation well is right for your home, please contact us today to discuss your options and get an estimate.