More ups and downs

Sorry for such delays between updates- we tried not to go into Matuu as we had so much to do at the well site. Here is the rest of our story...

We found that the well had recharged over 5 feet of water while we were buying supplies in Matuu. According to the drilling records of 2010 and 2011, we figured that at about 27.5 ft. we were, in fact, at the bottom of the aquifer and hitting bedrock. As not to loose anymore pieces down the well or have the sand collapse on us, we cased and back-washed the well on Wednesday.

"Casing" consists of cutting slits in the bottom 10ft of the PVC and covering the slits with a filter made from a plastic rice sack. The casing is then fed down the hole. Gravel is slowly dropped around the outside of the casing to the top of the filter. Sand is poured on top of the gravel. We back-washed the well using the sump pump to shoot about 500 liters of water into the well to clean it and settle the gravel and sand that surrounds the casing.