HomeWell servicesShallow Wells
Water-table wells and jet pumps
Shallow wells, for the jobs they actually suit
Sand points, jet-pump wells and irrigation bores in the sand above the clay: cheap and quick where the water table is kind, and the wrong tool where it is not.
At a glance
- Draws from
- The water-table zone above the clay
- Pump
- Jet pump, above ground, suction lift
- Best for
- Irrigation and outbuildings
What a shallow well is and what it is for
A shallow well draws from the water-table aquifer: the sand above the clay, where the water level rises and falls with the season. It might be a driven sand point a couple of inches across, a two-inch jet-pump well, or a larger bore that simply stops above the confining layer.
The case for one is cost and simplicity. There is no deep casing, the pump can sit above ground, and on a good site it delivers plenty for a lawn. The case against is everything the shallow zone is exposed to: drought, surface runoff, iron, tannins from the oaks, and whatever the neighbour puts on their grass.
Call Flamingo installs and services shallow wells for the jobs they suit, and says plainly when a household is asking a shallow well to do a deep well's job.
Right tool
Where shallow wells make sense
- Irrigation on a lot that has utility water for the house
- Outbuildings, wash-down and livestock water on rural acreage
- Sites where the water table is high and steady all year
- Budget-first installs where the household understands the trade-off
Wrong tool
Where they struggle
- Drinking water on a lot with a septic system: the setback and the exposure both bite
- Coastal lots where a shallow zone can turn brackish
- Households that irrigate hard through a dry spring
- Iron and tannin-heavy ground where the water stains everything it touches
Straight answers
Questions this job raises
Can a shallow well be used for drinking water?
It can be permitted for it, but the exposure to surface contamination is real and a drinking well still has to sit 75 feet from a septic system. Most households on a well and a tank end up better served by a cased Floridan well.
Why does the jet pump keep losing prime?
The water level in the well is dropping below what suction can reach, or air is getting in through a foot valve or a fitting. The first is seasonal, the second is a repair.
How deep is a shallow well?
Typically a few tens of feet, stopping in the sand above the clay confining layer. The exact depth follows the water table on that lot.
Next door to this job
Work that usually comes up in the same visit
Deep Wells
Floridan aquifer wells cased through the clay, with a submersible pump set to the water level.
Irrigation Wells
Lawn and landscape wells so the utility bill stops paying to water the grass.
Well Pump Repair
No water, weak pressure, a pump that never shuts off: the failed part found before anything is replaced.
Free estimate, then the work
Call Flamingo quotes well work at no charge and schedules seven days a week across the Jacksonville area.