Water Well Meter Required

[iainiain101]

We have recently drilled a water well on our land. The drilling company got the relevant permission, and we now have water.

 

We have now received an official looking letter saying that the well will need a meter attached, at a cost of 15k Baht, and then a water usage charge will apply. We have four days to comply.

 

Has anyone else heard of this requirement? Experienced this?

 

We are on the borders of Sankampaeng and Lamphun.

 

Thanks

 

Iain

[Crossy]

I've certainly heard of the requirement for metering of wells, but not of any enforcement, until now.

 

From whom is the letter?

 

A meter certainly shouldn't be costing 15k (unless it's a big farming type beastie).

 

If you want post a scan of the letter (with personal details blocked out) and those that knows can have a look.

 

[simoh1490]

How deep is the well?

[iainiain101]

80m. according to the letter. May be a bit over. It was a very sandy area and took 3 months to complete.

 

I am out at the moment, and will try and scan the letter later.

 

[sandyf]

3 minutes ago, simoh1490 said:

How deep is the well?

More to the point is the diameter. The instructions on our deep well pump indicated use for wells 150 mm dia upwards. The OP said drilled as opposed to dug.

I could see small diameter wells being metered but it would be very difficult to control the amount of water taken from a normal well like ours which is 4 ft in diameter.

[simoh1490]

Just now, sandyf said:

More to the point is the diameter. The instructions on our deep well pump indicated use for wells 150 mm dia upwards. The OP said drilled as opposed to dug.

I could see small diameter wells being metered but it would be very difficult to control the amount of water taken from a normal well like ours which is 4 ft in diameter.

A fair point although I assumed the OP means a bore hole rather than a well.

[sandyf]

Just now, simoh1490 said:

A fair point although I assumed the OP means a bore hole rather than a well.

That what it sounds like to me. Also 80 metres is very deep and it may be viewed as commercial. Our deep well pump is 30 M max.

[iainiain101]

Its a bore hole, 2 inch pipe I think. we would have stopped shallower if there was water. 

 

[Dante99]

80 meters deep, 2 inch pipe sounds doubtful but I guess it is possible.  Most stuff around 80 meters deep is 4 inch or even 6 inch pipe to accommodate the submursible pump.

[simoh1490]

It's not unusual in the North to have wells that are 80 to 150 meters deep, it is unusual though for it to be only 2 inches. Typically a shallow well, up to about 15 meters, would be 3 inch, an 80 meter well is typically 4 inch, sometimes 5 inch and even 6 inch. The size of the bore determines the power of the submersible pump and I've never even seen a 2 inch submersible, 3 inch can be found but serious pumps typically start at 4 inch.

[Boksida]

There is a charge for groundwater extraction. This started  around 1984 and was mainly used originally in the Bangkok area where I think it is about 10 baht / cubic metre now. Wells less than 30 metres deep are usually exempted as they can be drilled without obtaining a drilling and pumping permit. Note that these are separate licenses. The Department of Groundwater Resources will inspect your meter seal (to prevent tampering) and the meter must be an approved type.

 

I suspect that the 2" pipe you can see is the column pipe on a submersible pump in larger casing. Are there electrical cables entering your well? How much water do you use? 15K seems expensive for a meter but will depend on your usage as that will determine the size. A normal household 3/4" meter may suffice and should be acceptable if it is sealed and has the document attached showing that it is certified by whatever the Bureau of Weights and Measures equivalent is called. This is usually just a piece of paper stuffed inside the lid. I suspect the DGR guys might feel they could be on a bit of an earner forcing you to buy a 2" meter from them.

[sandyf]

3 hours ago, Boksida said:

There is a charge for groundwater extraction. This started  around 1984 and was mainly used originally in the Bangkok area where I think it is about 10 baht / cubic metre now. Wells less than 30 metres deep are usually exempted as they can be drilled without obtaining a drilling and pumping permit. Note that these are separate licenses. The Department of Groundwater Resources will inspect your meter seal (to prevent tampering) and the meter must be an approved type.

 

I suspect that the 2" pipe you can see is the column pipe on a submersible pump in larger casing. Are there electrical cables entering your well? How much water do you use? 15K seems expensive for a meter but will depend on your usage as that will determine the size. A normal household 3/4" meter may suffice and should be acceptable if it is sealed and has the document attached showing that it is certified by whatever the Bureau of Weights and Measures equivalent is called. This is usually just a piece of paper stuffed inside the lid. I suspect the DGR guys might feel they could be on a bit of an earner forcing you to buy a 2" meter from them.

Thanks for that bit of info, explains a lot. Most of the wells around here are from the 4 ft concrete rings and probably about 15/20 metres deep.

Up until a few years back we had a reciprocating pump on one of our wells and it needed repairing once too often. I opted to replace it with an automatic on demand deep well pump which now supplies the 3 dwellings on the land.