In the 2012 to 2016 drought, hundreds of private wells in East Porterville went dry or were contaminated. State and county agencies then connected 755 homes there to Porterville's city water, pumped from about 30 wells. Farmhouses and ranchettes around Terra Bella and Ducor still pump their own wells. The city, East Porterville, Terra Bella and Ducor all sit over the Tule Subbasin, on state probation since 2024.
Big River Drilling is a licensed C-57 well drilling contractor based in Riverdale. We travel out to Porterville for water well drilling: new and replacement wells drilled by mud rotary, cased and sealed. Our pump crew handles well pump repair, pump installation, pressure tanks and the trench to the house. Call or text (559) 867-3806 for a free estimate.
Tell us about the well or the water problem. We come out, look at the site and give you a free estimate.
East Porterville is the unincorporated community just east of the city, by the foothills. Many of its homes relied on private wells, and the 2012 to 2016 drought hit them especially hard. Homes without safe water got deliveries of tank water and bottled water. The state's dry well reporting system logged more than 650 household reports with Porterville addresses from 2014 to 2016.
Work on a permanent fix began in early 2016. Three state agencies teamed with Tulare County and local community groups to run new water lines. About 300 homes on emergency water were connected by March 2017, then about 450 that still had well water. By February 2018, 755 of the 1,100 eligible homes were on the City of Porterville's water system.
Most of the wells that failed were shallow. Where a Porterville dry well report listed a depth, half were 100 feet deep or less. On the basin's east side, the shallow aquifer sits in about the top 100 feet, per the State Water Board. Its staff report warns that falling groundwater levels can leave shallow wells dry.
New household wells here go much deeper now, per state well completion reports. For Porterville addresses, the median was about 180 feet in 1990 to 2009 and 310 feet in 2010 to 2019. Since 2020 it is 350 feet, and the middle half run 300 to 400 feet.
Porterville is the center of a large farming area known for citrus and livestock. Lindsay, about 10 miles north, calls itself Central California's Citrus Center. In the foothills above town, the Army Corps of Engineers dams the Tule River at Lake Success. Still, groundwater is the main water source for farms and towns across the Tule Subbasin.
Several nearby towns run small water systems of their own. Ducor, Poplar and Woodville pump groundwater, and Terra Bella draws on the Friant-Kern Canal and wells. Outside those systems, farmhouses and ranchettes pump from private wells. Up Highway 190 past Lake Success, so do many homes around Springville.
Depths change across this ground. South toward Terra Bella, the nine household wells on record since 2020 have a median depth of 600 feet. Around Strathmore, north of town, the median since 2020 is 400 feet. In the foothills near Springville, depths vary widely: from 1990 to 2009, the middle half ran 140 to 400 feet.
Tulare County Environmental Health calls nitrate the county's most common contaminant, found widely on the valley floor. It encourages anyone with a new well to test for bacteria and nitrate, plus DBCP in the valley. In the foothills, it adds a test for radiological contaminants. A state-certified lab can test your well, and we can point you to one.
The Tule Subbasin covers about 744 square miles, with Porterville the largest of its 13 towns and communities. The State Water Board calls it critically overdrafted, with water pumped out faster than it is recharged. After state officials found the local plans inadequate in 2023, the Board put the subbasin on probation in September 2024.
Board staff found the 2022 plans would let hundreds of wells go dry. Staff said the revised plans appear to fix that but still needed to confirm it. The Board decides when probation ends.
Household wells pumping 2 acre-feet a year or less, for home use only, skip state reporting and fees. The City of Porterville, Tulare County and local irrigation and water districts formed the Eastern Tule GSA in 2016. In that GSA, wells up to two miles from the Friant-Kern Canal must be metered, small household wells aside.
Tulare County Environmental Health permits every new well, and a C-57 contractor must do the work. The county and the GSA decide; we handle the application as the licensed driller. On the valley floor, the county sends it to the GSA, which can add conditions; foothill parcels skip that review. County rules also require the seal around the casing to reach at least 50 feet.
When the tap goes dry, the well is not always the problem. A failed pressure switch, control box or pump can stop the water too. We track down the fault and fix it. When a submersible pump is worn out, we pull it and handle well pump replacement.
Pressure that comes and goes can point to the pressure tank. A waterlogged tank makes the pump short cycle, which means it turns on and off too often. We install well pressure tanks, switches and gauges on a pad beside the well head.
A new well needs a trench from the well to the house for the water line and the pump's power. Porterville sits near the southeast edge of the area we work. The drive from Riverdale is about 67 road miles, by Highways 41, 198, 99, 137 and 65. We take well and pump calls 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Communities and areas we serve around Porterville: East Porterville, Strathmore, Poplar-Cotton Center, Terra Bella, Plainview, Woodville, Lindsay, Ducor, Springville, Tipton.
Porterville ZIP codes served: 93257, 93258.
Free estimates throughout Tulare County and the surrounding area.
(559) 867-3806
New domestic water wells drilled by mud rotary, cased and sealed to the county's standards, developed and pump tested, then finished with the pump, the pressure tank and the lines to the house. Replacement wells when an old well goes dry or silts up.
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No water, low pressure or a pump that never shuts off? We trace the fault from the breaker down to the pump and repair what failed.
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We size and set submersible well pumps for new wells and replace worn pumps in existing wells. The drop pipe, wire, controls and the electrical to the pump come with the job.
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We install and replace bladder and galvanized well pressure tanks, plus the switches, gauges and check valves. When the pump clicks on and off, we find out why.
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Trenching from the well to the house, with the water line and the pump's power conduit in one trench. New lines for new wells, and repairs when an old line breaks or leaks.
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The well quit and the taps are dry. We take well and pump calls 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
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Irrigation and stock wells for farms, orchards, dairies and ranches around Riverdale. We drill by mud rotary, test pump the well and handle the permit paperwork.
Learn MoreReal reviews from real well and pump jobs, 9 reviews on Google.
Helped out my parents asap when the others wanted us to wait 2 weeks. He came out same day!!!! and changed the valve in only 10 minutes “thank you sir!! “ (water well drilling)
Open 24 hours. The owner is always available and always answers the phone or calls back. He’s very attentive, and when we have problems with the well, he will come out and check it immediately. He takes full responsibility for his work, which is excellent. we just call and he’ll walk us through the situation and it’s usually something simple. He also was able to get us a well at reduced rate through a program that he works with
Great fokes to do business with
A few of the questions we hear most around Porterville. If yours is not here, call and ask.
Tell us about the property or what your well is doing, and we will set up a free estimate. For a well or pump problem, call or text (559) 867-3806, day or night.
Tell us about the well or the water problem. We come out, look at the site and give you a free estimate.
