Manual well drilling, WFA method

This is a method of drilling wells developed by Terry Waller of Water for All (www. waterforallinternational.org). In suitable soils wells can be drilled over 200' deep. In this video we were doing a test well to see if the soil strata were suitable for future well-drilling training programs to be conducted at our center in Oklahoma. It's labor-intensive, but can be motorized with a small engine and speed reduction doing the work of pulling the rope. This means of drilling wells may prove the least expensive and most appropriate for poor families in many parts of the world to gain access to adequate amounts of safe water.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• manual
• well
• drilling
• perforacion
• de
• pozos
• WFA

[approtechie]

I believe they've gone over 200' deep in soil that's easy to drill.

[coachgeo]

Where in OK are you? Im in north TX and will have to drill my own well. NO money and no water to assist with the drilling process with in miles of my land. Need more detail on what tip of the ramming pipe looks like, etc. What do you think about putting a weight on top of pipe to assist in the ramming ?

[approtechie]

@coachgeo I'm in NW Arkansas just across the border from OK. WFA is located in San Angelo, TX though. You'll need at least 150-200 gals. of water to drill this way, so you'd have to haul it in. Go the the Water for All website to get more details about the drilling process and equipment. Adding weight is not necessary usually, although the steel pipe at the bottom can be lengthened if necessary. The process can be motorized.

[coachgeo]

@approtechie grrrrrrrr can't win for loosing... I got no way to haul water out there. Im amazed at all the methods of drilling for a water well where you need water to make it work. If I had water... I wouldn't need a well.

[approtechie]

@coachgeo I hear you! It's like priming the pump before you can get any water out. At least once you've done it you don't have to do it again. You might look at pounding a well - very slow and doesn't like rocks, but no water required. Google it and see what you might come up with.

[gfervi]

Me gusta su equipo de perforacion, ya que no requiere de una bomba de lodo.

Pero en el caso de encontrarse con grava (4 - 5 mm de diametro) el equipo sigue siendo eficiente, o solo este equipo es para zonas de tierra.

[approtechie]

En realidad, no es mi equipo, es de Terry Waller de WFA Intl. quien nos dio entrenamiento en el uso de su método. Pero le puede afirmar que sí, puede pasar por grava pequeña, y hasta por zonas de roca como esquisto que no es tan dura. ¡Terry ha perforado hasta una profundidad de más de 100 metros en Bolivia!

[datzfast]

@approtechie drop pole drilling is dry but

[billwho62]

@coachgeo Well, pipe it in from the city.

[chunkyfecalbreakfast]

@urbanpatchwork nice attitude, I am appalled at his "its too hard, im giving up" attitude

[urbanpatchwork]

Wow, @coachgeo...if you really want it you can make it happen. 2-300 gallons isn't much, even if you have to haul it in on bike, ATV or mule. You can put 10 gallons on your back in a bag and hike it 20 times. You can put 50 gallons in a $10 recycled barrel and drive it in with a buddy's truck or Subaru. Build a scrap wood cart and hitch it to a mule. It's doable if you really want it.

[thepropertystore1]

how deep can you go with this method?

[coachgeo]

@approtechie .... pounding a well or similar is what i think I will have to do. Thought at the moment is to do this just to get to a water table.. then use this as the water source for digging a deeper well using one of the other sources near by. use some of the junk pulled up from new well then then fill the first one with?