digging a well

I'd be amazed if you didn't need approval[s] - talk to your commune, or a geometra, etc etc

Ok thanks alan, I'll contact the commune and hear what they say.

Do you mean a borehole or what?

Hi bunterboy, We have water about 5-7 metres under our garden, so we intend digging the old fashioned way, buckets and spades, no borehole!

"We have water about 5-7 metres under our garden, so we intend digging the old fashioned way, buckets and spades" I hope you know how difficult and dangerous a self-dig well would be - hopefully you are experienced in such undertakings - there are extreme safety risks from the collapse of excavations, possible gas/breathing problems, drowning [if you ever get deep enough], etc etc etc I'd be amazed if any designer/geometra/Engineer would touch such a proposal with the proverbial 10 foot barge pole. It would be interesting is you would give us feed back the comune's response to your proposal.

Yes you need permission from the comune.

Thanks Ram, I'll contact the comune.

Interesting. So the water table is pretty close to the surface, so a borehole would be pretty cheap, easier and safer than digging a fairy tale style well.Mmm, would the Commune ever know?

"would the Commune ever know?" Probably - If borehole - the rig would be a bit obvious If hand dug - 20+ cubic metres of 'spoil' to dispose of Plus neighbours reporting etc etc