Deepen Your Well or Drill a New One? Dry-Well Options in Tulare County

If your water stopped, the question is usually whether to deepen your well or drill a new one. The honest answer is that a few checks come first, and they decide most of it. This guide is a decision checklist for Tulare County households. It builds on our dry well help guide, which covers reporting and assistance, and goes further into the repair decision itself. We are an independent referral service, not a driller, so use this to ask better questions, not as a diagnosis of your well.

The decision in five questions

1. Is the well actually out of water? If not, fix the pump, tank or controls. This is the cheapest outcome.
2. Is the water only a little below the pump? If so, lowering the pump may work.
3. Is the well deep enough to go deeper, and in good enough shape? If so, deepening is an option.
4. Is the casing damaged, too narrow, or the well very old? Then a new well is likely the realistic path.
5. Can you get service from a public water system? Ask your city or water district; in some places a connection beats a new well.

Step 1: Rule out the pump and the controls

A dry-looking tap is not proof of a dry well. A tripped breaker, failed pressure switch, waterlogged tank, or a worn pump can all cut off water while the well still has plenty. Switch the pump off if the taps only spit air, since a submersible pump running without water can burn out. Then walk through our pump troubleshooting and cost guide.

The deciding measurement is the static water level compared with the pump setting. A pump contractor or driller can measure how far down the water sits and where the pump is hung. The three outcomes:

• Water is above the pump. The well is fine. The problem is the pump, wiring, controls or a clogged intake.
• Water is below the pump, but there is room below it. The pump can be lowered, if the well is deep enough and the new setting still sits above the bottom with some margin. This is often the lowest-cost fix and may be temporary if groundwater keeps falling.
• Water is at or near the bottom of the well. Lowering will not help. Move to deepening or replacement.

Step 2: Is deepening possible?

Deepening means extending the borehole below the current bottom and usually adding casing or screen. It sounds simple but is often not possible. A driller will look at:

• Casing diameter. Drilling tools need to fit inside the existing casing. A narrow or obstructed casing can rule deepening out.
• Casing condition. Corrosion, collapse, cracks, or a bend can stop tools and mean a deeper hole would sit inside a failing well. A downhole camera inspection is the usual way to check.
• Original depth and age. Records for your well, if they exist, show how it was built. Ask the driller to look up your well log and nearby well logs; the state keeps well completion reports, and your county or the Department of Water Resources can tell you how to request one.
• The aquifer below. Going deeper only helps if there is productive water-bearing material under the bottom of the hole. Local records give clues but no guarantee. USGS reports domestic wells in this area are typically drilled to roughly 150 to 500 feet, so a well near the shallow end has more room than one already near the deep end.
• Falling levels. If groundwater is dropping in your area, a deepened well may run short again. Ask the driller what they expect and what they base it on.

Be wary of anyone who promises a result without looking inside the well. No one can promise that deepening will find water or restore your old flow.

Step 3: When a new well makes more sense

A replacement well is the better call when the casing is damaged or too narrow, the well is old and poorly built, the hole cannot be cleaned out, or deepening has little chance of reaching better material. It also lets you choose a casing size and pump setup to suit the current water level, which can matter for a household that expects levels to keep falling.

Things to know about a new well:

• A permit is required. Tulare County regulates well construction under its ordinance, and drilling, deepening or destroying a well without a permit is prohibited. See our well permit guide and confirm the current process with Tulare County Environmental Health.
• Siting can be tight. Replacement wells are often placed near the old one, where distances to septic systems and animal enclosures can be a problem. County notices for recent replacement wells show longer annular seals or variances in such cases; ask your driller how they handle it.
• Completion report. California Water Code section 13751 requires the person doing the work to file a well completion report with the Department of Water Resources within 60 days. Ask for a copy.
• The old well. See below.

Step 4: Deal with the old well properly

If you drill a new well, the old one should not simply be left open. An abandoned well is a safety hazard and can carry contamination down to the groundwater. Destroying a well (sealing it to a standard) is generally done by a C-57 licensed contractor, and the county ordinance covers destroying wells as well as building them. Confirm with Tulare County Environmental Health what permit and inspection apply, and ask whether the driller will include it in the quote. Do not count on an old well being left as a backup unless the county and your driller say it is allowed and safe.

What it may cost

We do not have local per-foot quotes, so we use only the labelled planning ranges from our well drilling cost guide. In that guide, a new domestic well is shown as a rough range of roughly $7,800 to $41,500 across example depths of about 200 to 500 feet (before the permit fee), and deepening an existing well is shown separately as a planning range per added foot, plus pump work. These are estimates, not quotes. Three points matter more than the headline numbers:

• Deepening does not remove the cost of the pump. A deeper setting often means longer pipe and wire, and sometimes a bigger pump.
• Deepening can fail to reach water, and you may still pay for the attempt. Ask in writing what happens if water is not found.
• If a deepened well fails again in a couple of years, the cheaper first option can become the more expensive one. Ask the driller why they think this one will last.

Also add the permit fee (ask the county, since we could not verify the current amount), electrical and plumbing work, water testing, and destroying the old well.

Timelines and waitlists

Timelines are the hardest part to predict. Driller availability drives it, and in drought years waiting lists have run for many months. A new well also needs a permit before drilling, and the completion report follows after. Ask every company for a realistic start date in writing, and ask what interim water options they know about while you wait. Our dry well help guide lists assistance that has existed for emergency water; check what is open today.

Questions to ask the driller or pump contractor

• What is my static water level now, and where is the pump set?
• Can the pump be lowered, and how long do you expect that to last?
• Will you inspect the casing with a camera before quoting deepening?
• What do the records for my well and nearby wells show about depth and water-bearing layers?
• Who applies for the county permit, and is the fee in your quote?
• Will you file the completion report within 60 days and give me a copy?
• What happens, and what do I owe, if you do not find water?
• Is destroying the old well included, and who arranges the inspection?
• What is the earliest start date, in writing?

Before signing, check the C-57 license and read the contract tips in our guide to choosing a well driller. After any work, have the water tested; see testing your well water.

Next step

If you are not sure which situation you are in, describe it in the form on this page: nearest town, well depth if you know it, what happened, and how urgent it is. Independent local companies can then assess the well and quote the option that fits. We do not guarantee response times or outcomes, and you are never obliged to hire anyone.