Nolan County Man Battling Drought the Old-Fashioned Way
By: Jessica Reyes
Updated: November 29, 2011
The historic drought that has had a grip on Texas for the past year is forcing some people around the Big Country to find alternate ways to get water.
Alton Pyburn and his wife run a nursery outside of Sweetwater. They already had two wells on their property, but when those two weren't cutting it anymore, they decided to try something a little more creative.
Pyburn and two of his friends decided to fix up an antique water well-drilling rig and dig for water on his property.
"I guess the first ones were made in the early 1900's," said George Hughes, who is helping Pyburn work on the rig.
They've been drilling the well for the last few months. So far, they've reached 190 feet.
"It's old, it's like us, we have to go slow. It should have taken us about a week, but it's taken us about three months," Pyburn said.
During a recent test pump, the well produced 13 gallons of water a minute.
"Our water level didn't go down. We pumped it 17 hours and it didn't go down," Hughes said.
Pyburn said he has high hopes for future test pumps, but would be happy with just about any amount.
"If we could get 15 or 20 we'd celebrate," he said.
The well isn't fully functioning yet, but they plan to have it ready to go by the spring.
Pyburn said he's only planning to use the water for outdoor purposes. Their indoor water comes from the Bitter Creek Water Supply.
Alton Pyburn and his wife run a nursery outside of Sweetwater. They already had two wells on their property, but when those two weren't cutting it anymore, they decided to try something a little more creative.
Pyburn and two of his friends decided to fix up an antique water well-drilling rig and dig for water on his property.
"I guess the first ones were made in the early 1900's," said George Hughes, who is helping Pyburn work on the rig.
They've been drilling the well for the last few months. So far, they've reached 190 feet.
"It's old, it's like us, we have to go slow. It should have taken us about a week, but it's taken us about three months," Pyburn said.
During a recent test pump, the well produced 13 gallons of water a minute.
"Our water level didn't go down. We pumped it 17 hours and it didn't go down," Hughes said.
Pyburn said he has high hopes for future test pumps, but would be happy with just about any amount.
"If we could get 15 or 20 we'd celebrate," he said.
The well isn't fully functioning yet, but they plan to have it ready to go by the spring.
Pyburn said he's only planning to use the water for outdoor purposes. Their indoor water comes from the Bitter Creek Water Supply.
Comments
They need to put the same restrictions on well water that they do on city water. In the grand scheme of things, it’s all part of the same ecosystem. It takes years for that ground water to filter its way down to the underground aquifer and these people are just sucking it dry!
kevin c.
November 30, 2011 at 3:51 pm
