Water Well Drilling for Camdenton and the Lake of the Ozarks

What are you trying to solve?

Building on land that has no water yet. A new home, cabin or shop site outside city water needs its own well. The planning starts with the lot, what the water is for, and what Missouri requires where you are building. See how a new well comes together.

A well that has stopped keeping up. Low pressure, sputtering taps or no water at all can come from several parts of the system, and a dry faucet does not automatically mean the well itself has failed. See no water or low pressure.

Buying land or a house that already has a well. Missouri keeps public records for many wells, and they can tell you how an existing well was built. See well depth and Missouri well records.

An old well nobody uses. Missouri law requires abandoned wells to be plugged, because an open or failing well can carry surface water straight down into the groundwater. See the FAQ.

Why well depth isn't a number we can give you online

The Lake of the Ozarks sits on layered dolomite and limestone, and much of that rock is karst: groundwater moves through fractures and openings dissolved in the rock rather than through an even layer. ^[1] Those openings are not spread evenly, so two wells a few hundred feet apart can reach water at noticeably different depths and produce different amounts of it.

Records from nearby wells are the best starting point for setting expectations. They are not a promise about your lot. Anyone who quotes you an exact depth or flow rate before drilling is guessing.

What we can do before drilling is look at where the property is, what the state's drilling-area requirements are for that location, what nearby records show, and how much water you need. The quote then tells you plainly which parts are fixed and which depend on how deep the well has to go.

Missouri well records can help

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources keeps a public database called WIMS (Well Information Management System). ^[2] You can use it to:

• look up records for wells drilled, reconstructed or plugged in Missouri after July 1987, which often show depth and how the well was cased
• see what wells near a property you are considering found
• check that a well or pump contractor holds a current Missouri permit

Older wells may have no electronic record at all. That is common on long-established rural properties, and it is one more reason a well's depth and condition are confirmed rather than assumed.

How a new well comes together

1. Start with the property and the water need. Household use, a second home, livestock or irrigation all change what the well has to deliver.
2. Review what is already known. Nearby well records and the state's drilling-area requirements for that location set the construction rules and a realistic range of expectations.
3. Choose the location. The well has to keep Missouri's required distances from sources of contamination, for example 50 feet from a septic tank and 100 feet from a lateral field or residential lagoon, and it has to be reachable by a drilling rig. ^[3]
4. Drill, case and seal the well. Anyone hired to drill a well in Missouri must hold a state permit, and every well must meet the state's construction standards. The casing and the grout seal around it are what keep surface water out of the aquifer.
5. Install the pump and pressure system. The pump is sized to the well's depth and the water it actually produces.
6. Disinfect and test before drinking. Testing a private well is the owner's responsibility, and Missouri's health department recommends testing at least once a year. ^[4]

No water or low pressure?

A dry faucet doesn't automatically mean you need a new well. On a private system the cause can sit in several places:

• the electrical supply to the pump
• the pressure switch or pressure tank
• the pump itself
• the pipe between the pump and the house
• the well producing less water than the house is using

Some of those are small repairs and one of them is a well problem. Telling them apart takes testing on site, not a guess over the internet. Electrical work on a well pump is not a do-it-yourself job. Read more about pump-versus-well problems, or call us and describe what the system is doing.

Before you request a quote

It helps to have:

• the property address, or the nearest road and town if the lot has no address yet
• whether this is a new well or an existing one
• any well records or paperwork you have, or a WIMS record you found
• what is happening, if an existing system is giving trouble
• what the water is for: a full-time home, a seasonal cabin, livestock or irrigation
• the best time to reach you

The quote request only asks for your name, the job address, your email, your phone number and the best time to call. We go over the details with you by phone.

Common questions

How deep will my well need to be? Nobody can tell you for certain before drilling. Nearby records give a range, and the geology under your lot decides the rest.

Does Missouri require a licensed contractor? Anyone you hire to drill, repair or plug a well or install a pump must hold a Missouri permit, and you can check a contractor's permit in WIMS.

How often should well water be tested? Missouri's health department recommends testing at least once a year, and any time the well is serviced or the water changes in look, smell or taste.

See all well questions

Areas we serve

We serve property owners around the Lake of the Ozarks and across central Missouri, including Camden, Miller, Morgan, Benton, Pettis, Laclede, Pulaski, Moniteau and Cole counties. That covers Camdenton, Osage Beach, Lake Ozark, Sunrise Beach, Versailles, Eldon, Warsaw, Sedalia, Lebanon, Iberia, Waynesville, California and Jefferson City. See the full service area.