Selma drinks groundwater. In town, the local water utility is privately owned and pumps from wells for about 26,500 people. Outside city limits, farmhouses and rural homes among the raisin vineyards pump their own wells from the Kings Subbasin. Fresno County calls the local subbasins critically overdrafted, and the state holds 41 dry well reports from Selma addresses.
Big River Drilling is a licensed C-57 well drilling contractor based in Riverdale. For water well drilling in Selma, we come over with our mud rotary rig to drill new and replacement wells. Our pump crew handles well pump repair, pump installation and pressure tanks, and we trench for the water lines too. 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.
Selma's water utility runs 10 active wells and more than 80 miles of pipe. Three of those wells feed carbon filters for TCP, a chemical once used mostly as a soil fumigant. Private wells do not have to meet drinking water standards, the county notes, so testing is up to you. A state-certified lab can test your water, and we can point you to one.
Outside city limits, rural homes pump their own wells. That takes in the vineyards toward Fowler, Kingsburg and Parlier and the county land toward Caruthers and Laton. The city covers less than a tenth of the land in the 93662 ZIP code area, per the Census Bureau. State well records list 246 new household wells and 126 new irrigation wells with a Selma address since 1990.
Selma sits at the crossroads of Highways 99 and 43, with Fowler to the north and Kingsburg to the south. We come over from Riverdale on Highway 41, Mountain View Avenue and Highway 43, about 21 road miles.
Farmers here traded wheat for peaches, plums and grapes on the sandy soil. Raisins became the big crop, and in 1963 Selma adopted the slogan Raisin Capital of the World. A marker in town says the San Joaquin Valley's groundwater was first tapped with a practical pumping plant in 1894. That steam-powered well stood 4 miles northeast of Selma and pumped 350 gallons a minute.
New household wells around Selma keep going deeper. For wells with a Selma address, the median depth was about 196 feet from 1990 to 2009. It rose to about 308 feet in the 2010s and 340 feet since 2020, per state well completion reports. The middle half of the recent wells ran 300 to 400 feet.
The water has dropped too. Drillers logged a median water level about 50 feet down from 1990 to 2009, and about 90 feet since 2020. At eight state monitoring wells near Selma, water sat about 30 feet deeper in spring 2025 than in 2005.
Of the 41 dry well reports from Selma addresses, 27 came in 2021 and 2022. The latest came in July 2026. Where a report gave the well's depth, most were 150 feet deep or less.
No water at the tap does not always mean a dry well. A worn pump, a failed pressure switch or a waterlogged pressure tank can stop the water too. We test from the breaker down to the water level, then fix the fault or handle well pump replacement. If the well itself has gone dry, a deeper replacement well is often the fix.
Around Selma, the Central Kings GSA manages groundwater under SGMA, the state's groundwater law. It is one of seven agencies in the Kings Subbasin, and the local irrigation district's board runs it. The board meets monthly in Selma, and the public can attend.
The district ponds Kings River water in basins so it can soak down and refill the groundwater. It recharged about 18,000 acre-feet in the 2025 water year and plans 1,000 acres of new basins by 2031. Across the subbasin, levels fall in normal and dry years and rise in wet ones, per the agencies' annual report.
The state approved the Kings Subbasin plans in August 2023, with corrective actions. One calls for a funded program to help drinking water wells hurt by falling water levels. Money for the Central Kings program covers interim dry-well measures and well replacement.
Outside city limits, Fresno County issues the well permit, and we apply for it as the licensed driller. The county inspects the sanitary seal, which must reach at least 20 feet down. Household well permits usually go through normally, the county says, but ask your GSA about limits on use. At the final inspection of a new household well, the county samples the water free of charge when it can.
Communities and areas we serve around Selma: Fowler, Kingsburg, Parlier, Del Rey, Bowles, Monmouth, Conejo, Laton.
Selma ZIP codes served: 93662.
Free estimates throughout Fresno 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 Selma. 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.
