How to Break Through White Sand for a Shallow Well

Consult a water table map for your area to determine the likely depth of the water table for your well’s location.

Begin digging your well with a fence-post auger. Twist the auger in place by the handles to drill into the surface of the sand. Descend as far as possible with the auger by pulling the sand from the hole whenever the auger scoop fills up. Add extension batons to the auger to extend its reach once you’ve drilled deep enough that the handles of the auger are at the surface of the sand. Be careful not to break through the water table. Stop digging with the auger as soon as you begin to bring up soggy sand.

Determine the depth of the hole by measuring the amount of auger you managed to sink into the sand. Take a long metal threaded pipe that’s about 5 feet longer than your hole depth and attach a drive point to the pipe’s base. Lower the pipe into the well until it hits bottom then place a driving cap on top of the pipe. The driving cap is a large metal cap with handles along the side that you use to drive the pipe into the sand.

Drive the pipe through the sand at the water table by lifting the cap about halfway off the pipe then slamming it down hard onto the top of the pipe to force it deeper into the ground. Continue until only about 1 foot of pipe extends from the surface of the sand.

Screw a 6-foot length of pipe onto the protruding foot of pipe and place the drive cap back on top. Drive the new length of pipe into the ground, as well, to extend the depth of your well.

Take the cap off the top of the pipe and screw on a faucet pump. Pump the faucet for a few minutes to get the water flowing through the pipe and out of your newly dug well.