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 Water has always been a matter of concern in California. Although things were pretty normal during the summer of 2006, by January 2007 the early signs of the current drought were beginning to show and concerns were growing. By August of 2007 California had been suffering from lack of water long enough to show signs of serious drought, a condition which continues to worsen and persists through 2009 without end in sight.
Extended periods of drought like this affect water availability from reservoirs and aquifers. Though they affect agriculture first, eventually homeowners begin to feel the pinch through water rationing and well owners begin to suffer from outages as the water table drops.
 Well owners in California hill and mountainous regions are usually the first to feel the impact but the longer the drought continues the more widespread these problems become. When well problems develop, the first reaction is to drill a new well or to install a water storage system like a cistern or above ground water storage tank.
In California the most common tank storage systems are those built using a 2500 gallon or larger tank with an electric float to turn off the well pump when the tank is full. The well pump is protected by a Coyote, a PumpTec or some other brand of motor protector which turns the pump off when the well is emptied and keeps it off for a selectable period of time after which it allows the pump to come on again. Operating the system this way treats the well like a sump pump pit; pumping it empty then waiting for it to refill only to empty it again.
 Operating a water storage system this way is bad for the well’s health and can lead to a situation in which the well’s yield begins to slowly decline until the well becomes unusable and the owner is forced to drill a new one. (to read about this see Over pumping can lead to yield decline )
Not long ago we sold a system to a client in the Sacramento area. He and his neighbor were having well problems. The neighbor opted for the standard large tank system described above and our client installed a 210 gallon Well Manager. The client with the 210 gallon Well Manager is no longer having water problems but the neighbor with a 3000 gallon system is.
I am sure you are wondering how it could be that the guy with 15 times more storage can be having problems while the fellow with the little Well Manager System does not. This is why;
- The large tank system constantly pumps the well empty trying to keep the huge tank full. Treating the well like this dewaters nearby geology and causes the well yield to decline so the harder you try the less water you get.
- If the large tank runs out, the well is also empty and it takes days to get enough water back in the well and tank to restart the pressure pump unless the owner wants to pay for a tank truck to haul some water in.
- Water in the tank does not turn over very quickly so it has a tendency to warm up. As the water warms the owner begins to have problems with algae growing in the tank and there is the possibility of bacterial growth as well.
- If a toilet does not shut off and runs all day the owner will come home to find his tank low or empty and the septic system flooded with his precious well water. After all of that it may take several days to recover enough storage to get a shower and do the wash.
The neighbor with the Well Manager System does not have this problem because:
- The Well Manager only harvests well production; it does not empty well storage so the well is nearly full all the time. This way well yield is constant because the geology is not dewatered and the aquifer can function as nature intended.
- If the Well Manager tank is emptied, you can restore water in 5 minutes by transferring some of the well storage to the Well Manager tank using the H-O-A switch (Hand – Off – Auto) to run the well pump manually for a few minutes until you have enough water to restart the pressure pump then return it to Auto and go about your business while the system continues harvesting.
- Water in the tank turns over regularly and stays cold because the tank is much smaller so there are fewer problems with algae and bacteria growth.
- If a toilet runs you will only loose a few hundred gallons rather than a few thousand.
AND there are other important differences between the Large Tank system and a Well Manager®
- The large tank requires site preparation and in cold climates measures must be taken to protect pipes into and out of the tank from freezing so excavating equipment will be required to trench for the piping. The installation will take a couple of days.
- The pipe from the well to the house must be dug up and reconfigured and the wires from the well need to be rerouted so that the tank float will turn off the well pump.
- You will need to do some landscaping to repair the yard where trenching took place and something will be needed to hide the tank
- Working on the system or troubleshooting at night, in the rain or when there is snow on the ground can be difficult
- If there are problems with the buried piping you will be out of business until you can dig and that can be difficult at certain times of the year
- The standard operating systems used with the common large tank systems does not protect the well from overpumping but the Well Manager does.
AND the patented Well Manager:
- Is a complete turn key system with a UL, cUL approved control
- The entire system will fit in a utility closet, basement, 39” high crawl space or well house and can be installed with no help in 5 hours.
- No changes to the well piping are required if you have a place to install the system inside the house or in a well house.
- No landscaping will be required
- Working on the system and troubleshooting are easy no matter the time of day or weather and there is a manual with troubleshooting help and an 800 number you can call for technical help.
- There is only the one original well line buried and most of the time these have few fittings to leak
- There is an optional kit that allows a well line that has yard hydrants or outbuilding water lines connected to be pressurized whether the well pump is on or not.
- The tank air inlet is filtered to 35 microns so there is less chance of airborne contamination in a Well Manager than there is with a low yield well that has a standard well seal.
- The Well Manager protects the well from over pumping so the well is always nearly full.
- A Well Manager® is the most environmentally responsible water harvesting system available anywhere.
There have been many occasions in which we have replaced existing large storage systems with a Well Manager® and produced a dramatic improvement. One such example is Ron Keisler in Colorado who replaced his nearly new 3000 gallon cistern system with a 400 gallon Well Manager®. You can read his story and testimonial here http://www.wellmanager.com/diy.htm
Many thousands of people know first hand that it really is not about the size of the tank but how you operate the well that makes all the difference in the world. They know this because they have a Well Manager® and no longer suffer every time there is a drought. If you are having problems with your well as a result of the California drought, take a look at some of the systems we have available http://www.wellmanager.com/wellmanager.htm They come with everything you need built into them so that all you need to install one is a few feet of pipe, a few fittings, some wire and a few wire nuts. Your best defense against drought is a Well Manager® and there has never been a better time to buy!
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