Finding the water table

[hammerman]

Im doing a garden design course and i need to find out how to find the local water table. Now there is the obvious digging of bore holes or checking surrounding areas for natural water courses but are there any local searches that could be done either via the council or environment agency ?

Thanks

[2sp_]

Have you thought about giving water divining a go?

(Yes, I'm being serious.)

[hammerman]

LOL...not sure they'll accept that in an RHS level 3 design exam !!!

[2sp_]

Just a thought!

Mr P has a digging and drainage business and uses water divining to find veins of water. Very effective and saves him digging bore holes.

[hammerman]

Serious answer now. Thanks for your suggestion, i suppose it could be a logical way of finding water but i think you answered the question by saying Mr P finds "veins" of water.

I need to find the water table which is a body of water. We know the water's there but just don't know how deep it is.

I will suggest divining to my lecturer tomorrow at college, who knows what she suggests.

Thanks again

[Old_Geezer]

Some sort of echo sounder I suspect.

[Graham-W]

I would guess that the only sure way to find the water table is with a borehole.
I have a 3 foot deep pit in my garage. Most summers I can use it to fix my car and most winters I can't. At the moment it has ~6" of water in it so the water table must be 2ft 6in down.

[HowardKennitby]

this gives some suggestion

http://www.ehow.co.uk...epth-water-table.html

[HowardKennitby]

and this

http://scialert.net/a...doi=ajes.2011.193.202

[Khandro]

Graham; your answer sounds correct to me, I'm not a geologist, but I can't see any other sure way, out of interest, the water in your inspection pit may not be the real 'water level', it could be coming from underground drainage. Are you anywhere near a river?

[Graham-W]

Not near a river but I had to dig through sand when making the pit so water may be travelling from somewhere else.
Does the water table vary much throughout the year or just in my pit? I've maybe picked the wrong year to ask this.

[hammerman]

Thanks for your answers...much appreciated.

Do you think there could be a local search...would local authorities have such info for building regs etc ?

[Khandro]

^^Someone will know; could that be the real subject of the the question?

[Hopkirk]

Surely the water table level will vary depending on rainfall (don't we know it this year!)

I doubt then that a check with local authorities would be accurate.

[coccinelle]

I have a well in the garden and I can pump out about 250 litres and by the next day the water level is back to where it was. This level never changes; is this the water table?

[HowardKennitby]

^

yes

[The Builder]

I agree with Howard. That's what we do for percolation tests for soakaways. In any excavation, it's simply the level at which water reaches equilibrium.

[Khandro]

Isn't the water level in coccinelle's well a sort of default / average level. Obviously in times of draught or times of high rainfall it must rise and fall, just like the level of a river. I don't think there is such a thing as an exact, permanent, measurable level.