Visalia's tap water is groundwater: the privately owned utility serving the city pumps it from about 60 wells. Beyond its water mains, farmhouses, dairies and ranchettes pump their own wells. All of them draw on the Kaweah Subbasin, which the State Water Board calls critically overdrafted. The state's dry well reporting system holds 378 household reports from Visalia addresses.
Big River Drilling is a licensed C-57 well drilling contractor based in Riverdale. We come over to Visalia to drill new domestic wells and replacement wells with our mud rotary rig. Our pump crew handles well pump repair, well pump installation, pressure tanks and the trenching for water lines. 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.
The utility reports serving about 145,000 people in Visalia from 59 wells. It also serves Goshen. In October 2025, it connected 44 West Goshen homes whose private wells were failing. Tulare County secured state drought relief money to pay for that work.
The City of Farmersville and the Ivanhoe Public Utility District pump groundwater for their own towns. Many rural homes outside those systems pump their own private wells. State records hold completion reports for about 850 new household wells with a Visalia address.
Visalia is the Tulare County seat, in one of the nation's top dairy and orchard counties. Tulare County ranked first in the nation for milk sales in the 2022 Census of Agriculture. Its top crops by acreage were hay, silage corn, oranges, almonds and pistachios. Irrigated farming used more than 94 percent of the subbasin's groundwater in 2020, per the State Water Board.
Federal records show Ivanhoe's water district keeping two wells on standby for nitrate. The Visalia system runs more than a dozen wells through carbon filters for a chemical called 1,2,3-TCP. Federal drinking water law does not cover private wells, per the US EPA, so testing is up to you. A state-certified lab can test your well water, and we can point you to one.
Three groundwater sustainability agencies, or GSAs, manage the Kaweah Subbasin under SGMA: East Kaweah, Greater Kaweah and Mid-Kaweah. Visalia is in the Mid-Kaweah GSA, formed in 2015 by Visalia, Tulare and the Tulare Irrigation District. In an average year, about 104,000 acre-feet more is pumped out than recharged, per the State Water Board. The Greater Kaweah GSA made well registration mandatory in February 2026, domestic wells included.
The state Department of Water Resources (DWR) found the agencies' 2022 plans inadequate in March 2023. That sent the subbasin to the State Water Board. Revised plans adopted in November 2024 set pumping allocations and a mitigation program for drinking water wells. On December 2, 2025, the Board returned the subbasin to DWR without probation.
Every new well in Tulare County needs a county permit. A contractor with a valid C-57 license must do the work. On the valley floor, the county sends a complete application to the GSA, which can add its own conditions. The county asks for it at least 10 working days before work starts.
State well completion reports show new household wells with a Visalia address going deeper. The median was about 220 feet for wells finished from 1990 to 2009. It rose to about 325 feet for 2010 to 2019 and about 400 feet since 2020. The middle half of those recent wells ran 360 to 400 feet.
The wells that went dry were far shallower. Where a Visalia dry well report listed the well's depth, three in four were 160 feet or less. Most of those 378 reports came in from 2014 to 2016 or in 2021 and 2022. Tulare County has 1,874 reports in the state system, more than any other county.
No driller can promise what the ground holds at a given depth. Before the rig moves, we read the well records nearby. Your estimate then spells out the depth range, casing, seal, pump and tank for your property. When an old well has gone dry or silted up, a deeper replacement well is often the fix.
No water at the tap does not always mean a dry well. A worn pump, a bad pressure switch or a failed control box can stop the water too. We find the fault first, then repair it or pull and replace the worn submersible pump.
Pressure that comes and goes can trace back to the pressure tank. A waterlogged tank makes the pump short cycle, which means it turns on and off too often. We handle pressure tank replacement, switches and gauges beside the well head.
For a new well or a broken line, we dig the trench from the well to the house. Then we lay the water line and the electrical conduit to the pump. We come over from Riverdale on Highway 41 and Highway 198 through Hanford, about 40 road miles. Call or text (559) 867-3806 for a free estimate on a new well, a pump or a tank.
Communities and areas we serve around Visalia: Goshen, West Goshen, Patterson Tract, Farmersville, Ivanhoe, Exeter, Monson, Yettem, Seville, Woodlake, Lemon Cove.
Visalia ZIP codes served: 93277, 93291, 93292.
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 Visalia. 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.
