What's new
By:
Filters

Shared well issues

Surveyboy said:
I guess i'm the new well nazi, I just got nominated as well manager lol

Legal to grow??? with permits. we are zoned mixes residential and ag.

the people who are using the most (or potential) started to grow in the beginning and got resistance from the other 3 before i moved here. last year, they rented it out and the renters started to grow and spiked the water usage. Since no one is 'officially' growing anything, its hard to go the ag only way (which is already included as not allowed, due to this being a domestic only well) and its more than personal use, as in about 100's plants were seen at least.

just wondering if there is someway to put something together that would at least make a new buyer realize we aren't going to accept them likely destroying our well so they can make money.
Click to expand...

Easy peasy. Be a dick. Since they arent permitted by state standards call the feds. They only turn a blind eye when its in state compliance. Same with your state and local task forces they love an illegal grow.
 
Surveyboy said:
Lol my use is about 1500 gallons a month lol
and yeah, I'm looking for a lawyer to review it.
Click to expand...

This would be my first step, although the time to do it was before you bought the house.

I doubt that there is going to be anything that can be done if there isn't already some kind of agreement in place. I doubt that you'll be able to get everyone on board for a new agreement that is going to go after the house with the highest usage. The only way to prove that would be to put meters on each service line.
 
I thought my ~400' well was expensive at like $6k a year ago (granted I put the well and line in myself, but whatever)

creeks drying up has jack shit to do with your 600' well. Ground water=/=aquifer water. The well should have a GPM stamped into the cover. If the well is recovering or has a fairly high GPM, I would cease being the dickhead neighbor. If there was a grow next door with 4 houses on a 1.5GPM well, I would vote them off the island, but you might find that's harder to enforce than you think.

How do you know the volumes? Does each house have a private meter? Why not establish a well association and establish a cost per cubic foot and put the money beyond the power bill towards a reserve to pay for the future maintenance. That way everybody gets to do what they want, and its actually remotely enforceable.
 
granitestatedestroyer said:
Wells cost 100k?

Profit?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Water-Well...-/154006215910?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49292
Click to expand...

My well is 300is ft and would be 70k minimum to replace.


Anyhow where i live in monterey, the county has people that oversee "shared wells" they basically lay out the ground rules first.... and then neighborly people work things out amongst themselves.... the un neighborly let the county step in. Maybe head down to the county building and ask around.
 
Sounds like you have a questionable well test and need to treat with chlorine for a couple months, you know - to be careful.
 
He's in a broke ass county where the county folks will side with the weed people because $$$$.

No granite just volcanics.


You're in a tough spot buddy.

Shared wells in Ca are always a total pain in the ass...Water rights and what not and the buttholes that just don't care or understand.

Move.

Yer fawked, sorry man.
 
Simple whos property / land is the well in ?

That man / woman IMHO has precedence to the water.

Meter and limit the consumption of the grower to save the well and you (the owner of the well ?)
 
HYDRODYNAMIC said:
Look up SGMA Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.
Jerry Brown passed it in 2014. By 2040 or a little after all wells will be metered.
Big farmers will not like this but it avoids their deeper high torquepower wells sucking the water across property lines and making the neighbors well go dry or suck sand. Most farmers with enough money believe they are entitled to all the water they can pull. Some farmers are smart and don’t waste a drop while others are wasteful.
California’s water issue is over population. To much surface water is being being diverted down south where water, vegetation, AG, and humans are not sustainable for the surface water that collects and replenished the ground.
In the Central Valley surface water was a common source, now almost everything is pumped out of the ground. Surface water is better for the vegetation as the ground can chemically change the water and effect growth.
Environmentalist is a misunderstood term as those down south who drive electric cars and are all super green want the Salmon to be able to run upstream in wide flowing rivers also don’t want their stolen water to be rerouted for the fish they just want to steal more from the “greedy” farmers. Water socialism you could say. Soon we will have a minimum water allowance and maximum water allowance.
Back to your weed neighbor, see if you can get a SGMA started on your well.
If not try to get them reported for growing violations.
Look into ways to limit their flow. Restrict their line with an orifice. Turn down the pressure switch on the well so they have lower pressure. You can always put a booster pump at your house to bump the pressure back up.
Click to expand...

You are actually suggesting getting the government involved? Damn you Californians are a different breed.
please never move.
 
mobil1syn said:
middle of nowhere, probably lots of granite
Click to expand...

Still full retard. To punch a whole through granite down here is $10/ft. Not including casing/pump/wiring.

Who's property is the well on, figure the BS stops there.

Just don't move out of CA, stay there.
 
Thanks guys.

To answer a couple questions.... An agreement is already in place it's just a bit, lackluster. The well permit says domestic use only. It's written as people will be respectful and honest. They were optimistic I think.

IM trying to have it's spelled out a little clearer as 2 of the 4 may be selling in the nearish future and lots of property is being bought by growers.

The current use is ok, but that's in part to the pressure of us here physically to remind them. The owners briefly lived here in 2014 and after the 'harassment' moved back to marin county.

This year they had a renter with option to buy move in and the first month used 2x everyone else. The second month was the same so we kindly informed them that it's not for growing crops and after some huffing and puffing, water use went back to a normal range.

I'm just trying to help myself later down the road.

I bought knowing the agreement existed. In retrospect... Likely wouldn't have.

I am considering other options incase it does go dry, like buy another piece locally and truck my own water in. Since I use a fairly minor amount, it won't be to bad... But still a hassle and seriously effect resale down the road.

I suppose if there where a time to peace out on the property, sooner than later would be it. I've been here 5 years now.

As well manager, I do have to keep tabs on the water quality and shocking it sometimes may need to happen... During the summer especially. For safety sakes....


And yeah, about $100k to dig 6-700 feet. Property on other side of the hill dug one 2 years ago... Hit water, got about 2 gallons a min for a few months then nothing. When ours was dug it was 6gpm in 1996 with 170' of head pressure.
 
Last edited:
TRINDU said:
Still full retard. To punch a whole through granite down here is $10/ft. Not including casing/pump/wiring.

Who's property is the well on, figure the BS stops there.

Just don't move out of CA, stay there.
Click to expand...

It's located on my neighbors property, he sold access to the problematic person in 2014, without discussion with other parties and they still ended up agreeing to allowing them....that was before I moved here and not much I can do about that.
 
Unless the agreement states the grower can have / take all of the water they want there is ownership, of the well and the water.

If their use of the well is jeopardizing the other users of the well that user needs to at the least be monitored if not cut off.


I know I've been warned before not to use logic but really.
 
brmpipes said:
California permits are fucktarded. Frog biology study, unicorn fart ect.
Click to expand...

a neighbor got his state license not long ago, when he was getting one of the dozen or so biological studies done i made a joke about them finding yellow legged frogs and no fucking joke they actually did find yellow legged frogs :lmao: he has to stay 100' away from all streams/creek/drainages on the property
 
Maybe adding a cistern to your system? Fill it off the well with timmed doses to spread out usage. If the well runs dry in the summer least you will have the cistern you get you though the a month or two depending on the size of it.
 
time to pack your bags shaun, shit's gonna get real come late spring.

ask me how i know. :laughing:

damned Fairfax yuppie hips have to ruin everything...
 
the last shared well place i lived, there were water meters on each house. what ever you used you paid for. the money went into an account where you needed signatures from all 4 well owners to withdraw the money for well repair and up keep.
two guys went around each month to read meters to access the monthly usage and billed the going rate in your area.
 
Last edited:
I forgot to answer that , yes there are meters on every tap. So we know who is using what. (I thought that was a given)

The dedicated power for the well is usually under $20 per month and split based on number of gallons used as well as a $20 month payment to maintenance fund for repairs down the road, like pumps and such.

So someone can use a shit ton of water and still only pay $40 a month in water.... Pretty much nothing if you're growing crops.

One thing I'm trying to also look at doing is changing the fee structure to increase the cost based on usage to like $200 for 1.5x usage $300 for 2x usage and $400 for 3x usage. It still will be cheaper than trucking water in or digging a new well. Sadly, still cheap for growers though but hopefully enough to make a recreational grower pause.

I talked to the owners in question a couple times now. Their stance is it's illegal to try and limit well usage no matter what any agreement states. That's what I'm working to find out now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Back Refresh