Why did a spring stop flowing?
CometX
not failed in fifty years or more. The spring is near the base of a 300 foot
hill that covers about 40 acres. Suddenly, the spring has stopped flowing.
There has been reduced precipitation in the past few years, but no worse than
has happened many times before. We are now facing the expense of having a well
put in.
Any Ideas why this happened? Is it definitely related to drought, or do
other things cause springs to dry up, like possibly silting inside the channel
through which the water flows. Is there nything we can do to restart the flow?
Thanks
Paul
Ecnerwal
> Any Ideas why this happened? Is it definitely related to drought, or do
> other things cause springs to dry up, like possibly silting inside the channel
> through which the water flows.
Silt is not a likely cause. Drought drawing down the water table is
possible. New wells or more pumping from old wells drawing from the same
area of groundwater will also do it.
>Is there nything we can do to restart the flow?
Pray for rain, or turn off the new wells. The latter is rather
difficult.
tomd
What part of Pa. are you located? Around here, (Allegheny Plateau, N.W. Pa.)
there has been drought or near-drought 4 of the past 5 years, longest
sustained dry spell I can remember. Many of even the most reliable water
tables are drying up. How suddenly did it stop? If completely drought-related,
it would likely slow to a trickle gradually.
Though I'm having a hard time picturing a "300-foot hill that covers about 40
acres," it sounds like you have a good size perched aquifer, that would take a
long, sustained drought to exhaust, but it would still dry up at some point.
Has there been any blasting, mining or gas/oil drilling going on nearby? Any
of these can disrupt an aquifer, and this can show up very quickly. Very heavy
pumping in a nearby water well might make it stop quickly.
If a little cleaning out around the spring doesn't start a flow, don't try
messing with it wihtout consulting a pro, and even then, maybe
not...hydrogeology can be a complicated biz.
Pray for rain.
Any experts out there?
-tommyD
Rob Gray
I would say it probably relates to a generally lower water table due to
less rain over the last few years. The summers over the last few years
have been very dry in general. Here in eastern PA, this summer has been
somewhat wetter than the last few around here, but my impression is that
the water table is lower. For example, this year, our spring fed pond
dropped a foot very quickly when it got hot and dry over just a few
weeks in August. I also have a spring-fed well and I'm keeping my
fingers crossed that it will stay viable. As far as some of the other
comments about other/new wells lowering the water level and affecting
your spring, I'm not sure about that. Modern wells that are a few
hundred feet deep often tap into a different water vein than the more
surface springs/wells like yours, or at least so I've been told.
Good Luck,
Rob
Larry Caldwell
writes:
Somebody drilled a well into your aquifer. Chances are you will never
know who. It could be miles away.
The water may come back when the drought ends. Only time will tell.
jj
A recent holiday at Lake Huron saw it at a very low level.
... a 40 - year low ... said some locals.
Good Luck
John T.
Jerry & Kathleen Crawford
"CometX" <com...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20010818064008...@mb-md.aol.com...
I've been told that compression may also cut a spring off. Have you (or
someone else) been driving heavy equipment across the vein? Has any earth
been moved that might affect it?
We live on a ridge that has a shallow underground stream running (of all
places) right under our house. Our well is tapped into it. Even during the
droughts the water level has remained at 17 feet. In another place along
the stream (further downhill) my husband's earth moving and tractor sealed a
spring coming from it, temporarily.
Kathleen
Straw Barry Fields Farm
Beefalo
Kentucky, USA
Ray Manning
hill. Of course that's neither here nor there. I don't know how your spring
is configured, but I've contemplated what I might do if mine dried up. Mine
is actually a very shallow gravity feed well (3 feet deep) so I've come to
the conclusion with mine that I'd try tapping it deeper into the hill
(horizontally) or further down the hill (vertically) should it dry up on me.
Of course that's not a long term solution unless I can get it down to some
constant water table. Have you ever monitored the flow rate of your spring?
Has it always been constant? Mine fluctuates with the amount of water used
by the neighbors (lower on the weekends/holidays). I suspect they are
relieving the pressure from the aquifer that feeds my spring (er... well).
The water level then returns to normal Monday or Tuesday. If you have a
cistern, you might see if someone can deliver you a load or two of water
before tapping a well. That might give your spring time to recover and then
it might not stop flowing for another 50 years.
- Ray
"CometX" <com...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20010818064008...@mb-md.aol.com...
James F. Cornwall
>
> Water is a funny thing and some roofers will tell you it can indeed run up
> hill. Of course that's neither here nor there. I don't know how your spring
Water *can* run "uphill" (when the hill is the surface topography), but
the flow within the ground is actually *down* a pressure gradient. If
the source of the water is higher than the outlet, and the water is
confined underground by impermeable materials like clay beds, then the
surface topography between the source area and the discahrge area is
pretty much irrelevant to the flow.
If there's nothing confining the water, that's a whole 'nother story...
Your water source (which is presumably at least partly the hill top) has
either decreased from less precip, or there are other parties helping
you use up the water in your aquifer, or your own usage has used up
enough of the water that now it's right past the threshold of sustaining
the spring's flow.
Are there other households tapping the water supply with wells in the
vicinity of your spring (say, within a half mile or so)? If so, the
combined usage might be taking more water out of the system (rainfall +
hill + spring + aquifer + users) than it is getting from the rainfall.
Has your own usage increased significantly over the last ten years or
so?
Groundwater is a dynamic, balanced system. Inputs and outputs in an
untouched system are equal, and flow is driven by gravity's pull and the
subsurface geology. Human activities alter that balance by taking water
out, and sometimes by putting water into areas where nature never put it
(usually by surface irrgation seeping into the ground). What we do in
one place often has unintended consequences separated from the actions
in both time and space...
Jim Cornwall
(Hydrogeologist)
