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Comment by photochemsyn | Hacker News Reader

Probably want to read this first, particularly if you live in a western USA state:

https://waterfilterguru.com/is-it-legal-to-drill-your-own-we...

Shrinking aquifers and neighbors drilling wells just a bit deeper than their neighbor's wells have contributed to a long-standing conflict over water access, see Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner for the historical origins of conflicts.

"Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting!" - Mark Twain

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This is equivalent to people fretting over using plastic drinking straws when certain industrial uses are exempt from environmental laws. The vast, vast majority of aquifer depletion is for impractical crops that should never be grown where they are and wouldn’t be if our water rights laws made any sense.

You tapping in one of these wells means very little in the context of this important topic.

> The vast, vast majority of aquifer depletion is for impractical crops.

And collection at spring source from water bottling companies let's please not forget that environmental abuse.

Not all aquifers start underground.

If you live in a dry, western state, there’s a 100% chance this won’t work. I live in the Southwest, and outside of some exceptions wells go down a thousand feet or more. You ain’t doing that without heavy equipment.

USGS has maps of water well depths. 250 feet at my house, definitely would be "ambitious" to diy that depth.

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