Digging a Well in and around Coronado
As residents of Coronado can attest to there have been problems with the water supply. The old system of pipes is not up to the requirements of the new IDAAN water plant. Thus, there are periodic breaks in water mains leading to loss of water supply to homes and neighborhoods.As our article of February 20 notes the people to call in case of a water outage are at IDAAN, 6612-3723. The director, Mr. Ducruet, will send out a crew to fix the problem. A SolutionSome Coronado residents have had a reserve water tank installed. This will help for a short time when the water supply is interrupted. However, a number of residents have been without water or extended periods. Thus, many local residents are thinking of having their own water supply when the public system fails. This article deals with putting in your own well.
As residents of Coronado can attest to there have been problems with the water supply. The old system of pipes is not up to the requirements of the new IDAAN water plant. Thus, there are periodic breaks in water mains leading to loss of water supply to homes and neighborhoods.
As our article of February 20 notes the people to call in case of a water outage are at IDAAN, 6612-3723. The director, Mr. Ducruet, will send out a crew to fix the problem.
A Solution
Some Coronado residents have had a reserve water tank installed. This will help for a short time when the water supply is interrupted. However, a number of residents have been without water or extended periods. Thus, many local residents are thinking of having their own water supply when the public system fails. This article deals with putting in your own well.
Whether you are building where there is no municipal water or if you want to have a backup in case the municipal water fails, the Coronado area has excellent water at a reachable depth.
Well drillers around Coronado charge $22 to $25 a vertical foot to dig a well and the aquifer they aim for is between 90 and 100 feet beneath the surface. Thus, having a well sunk will cost you about $2,500 plus the cost of a pump and associated equipment. The job typically takes three days.
The process involves drilling the well, running a six-inch PVC pipe down the well and packing in crushed rock. The bottom forty feet of pipe will be slotted for water entry. You will need a pump and a platform, electrical connections, and testing to make sure the system works.
When the well is up and running the driller will flush the system with chlorine to assure that no surface contamination has gone down into the aquifer.
Because of alternating layers of clay and sand in the subsoil, water coming down out of the mountains to the aquifer beneath Coronado is well filtered. This water does not have a history of contamination nor dangerous mineral composition.
Coronado Water
Because of the heavy rainfall in the Coronado watershed there is sufficient water pressure from above to keep ocean water out of the aquifer. This is not the case in Cocle Province, the Azuero Peninsula and the Darien where salinity of the water supply is a problem.
Panama has kept track of its wells much as is done in the USA where well drillers report their findings to the local government. For a comprehensive hydrological map, in Spanish, visit http://www.hidromet.com.pa/Mapas/Mapa_Hidrogeologico.pdf. If you get that far the blue area on the big map is the good water around Coronado. The map explains that the blue-labeled aquifers are capable of yielding 10 to 50 cubic meters of water a day per well. An insert from the map showing Coronado’s “blue” water accompanies this article.
A Passive Alternative
In the forum we have alluded to the passive solution for collecting water, that is, eve troughs and a tank or cistern. As Coronado has plenty of water at a reasonable depth your only rationale here has to do with power outages and how large your reserve tank is.
Collection of rain water, although a passive, “green,” solution, does not make a lot of sense if your well works. The advantage of a larger tank or cistern makes sense only in the event of long term power outages, so, having your own well makes the most sense for a backup when IDAAN’s pipes break.
Inset from Hydrological Map
The blue area around Coronado represents the excellent water bearing aquifer beneath the area. ( http://www.hidromet.com.pa/Mapas/Mapa_Hidrogeologico.pdf )
