Digging a well in your garden
Summer has just ended, and one thing is clear: it has been (again?) particularly dry this year. You have a garden, and of course you want it, you have invested time and money in it. You don’t want to abandon it. So, like everyone else, you have been watering regularly. Second observation: city water is more and more expensive. Why not do as our ancestors did and build a well in your garden?
Why build a well in your garden?
The use of a garden well for irrigation is the first one that comes to mind. But drilling a well in your garden can have many other uses.
Outside, you can wash your car or fill your pool.
Indoors, you can use the water from the well to flush the toilet or wash your clothes. However, the regulations require that a separate connection be used for the wastewater. The purpose of this constraint is to avoid any contamination of the city water.
It is essential to carry out an analysis of the water from your well, in order to know if it can be consumed. This is valid even if you only wash dishes with it, otherwise you risk poisoning.
Can we dig a well in our garden?
Legally, it is quite possible to make a well in your garden. However, since 2009, certain rules must be respected. These rules are mainly aimed at large consumers, but they must still be respected in the case of domestic use of water.
In short, you must first declare your well construction project (online, then at the town hall at least one month before the drilling begins). Once the well is built, you must then call upon an approved laboratory to analyze the water. The completion of the work must also be reported to the city hall by registered letter at the latest one month after the end of the work. You must include the results of the laboratory analysis. A water compliance officer will verify the compliance of your work.
It is also mandatory to install a meter on your garden well to verify that you are not exceeding the 1000m3 limit for domestic use (don’t worry, this should not be the case unless you are a very heavy water user).
Be sure to check with your local municipality, as some municipalities may also apply a tax to compensate for the cost of wastewater treatment if you use this water inside your home.
If the depth of your well exceeds 10 meters, you will also have to make a declaration to the Banque du Sous-Sol (BSS).
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For more information, you can consult the complete regulation on the government website.
How to build a well in your garden?
Once you have carefully chosen the location of your well and taken the first steps, the construction phase begins.
The easiest and cheapest way to dig a well is with an auger. There are augers that are specialized for deep drilling. These augers look like conventional augers, but have a system of extensions that can be added to each other. This will allow you to dig to a depth of 20 meters! With a manual auger, the theory is simple: you turn the tool and it sinks into the ground, then you pull it out to extract the soil.
However, you should know that the larger the diameter of your well and the deeper the auger, the more difficult it will be. It is therefore better to work with two people to avoid back pain.
Make sure you are well equipped to avoid injury, gloves are essential otherwise beware of blisters!
Once the hole is dug, you will have to install a PVC pipe, filtering systems and finally a pump.
And there you have it! So, ready to save water and money?
