If your shallow water well is coming up dry, recent climatic conditions may explain why the water is dropping beyond the reach of your well.
A viewer on the northeast side of Jacksonville says he and others are having problems with shallow well pumps sucking air. Ponds are down 5 feet, and even the weeds are dying.
All of Florida’s groundwater is replenished by rainfall which is in short supply recently. Duval County is more than 5 inches below normal for the month, resulting in low local aquifer levels.
This month’s lack of rainfall has increased the risk of drought in Duval County and surrounding parts of North Florida, reducing groundwater levels over most of the area.
People are using more water for nonessential uses causing water levels and pressure to decline. In addition, May is the highest month out of the year for evaporation which reduces the amount of runoff that goes into recharging groundwater.
The bottom line is more water is coming out of the aquifer than resupplying it which can lead to a loss of pressure and flow in wells in shallow depth wells.
The St. Johns River Water Management District reports most areas were average to 1 inch below normal in the green colors. Wells in Nassau County are up to 3 inches below average.
Current groundwater levels for a well in Clay County (blue line) recently dropped below average shown by the black line in May.