1. All About Wells aids residents in well water conservation | The... http://www.theunion.com/news/business/13044492-113/soltero...
Ivan Natividad
inatividad@theunion.com
September 17, 2014
All About Wells aids residents in well water
conservation
Evelyn Soltero, owner of All About Wells, inspects one of her customer's wells. Soltero runs her
business out of her Penn Valley home office.
When Evelyn Soltero moved to Nevada County from the Bay Area in 2003 to work as a
science teacher at Bitney College Preparatory High School, it was the first time she had ever
lived with a well on her property.
“In a short period of time I began to realize that I was interconnected with the local
hydrologic system,” Soltero said. “So I needed to learn more about how my well operated.”
Soltero went back to graduate school in 2009 to learn more about local groundwater, and
received a master’s degree in hydro sciences with a focus in geology from California State
University, Chico in May 2013. To help local well users in the county, Soltero then launched
All About Wells, a business focused on providing environmental consultation to residents
who want to find efficient ways to manage their groundwater. And with California’s drought,
along with Gov. Jerry Brown signing new groundwater regulations into law Thursday (See
page A6), management of groundwater is likely to be an ongoing topic of discussion.
“We have a fractured rock base here in Nevada County,” Soltero said. “More commonly
known as a discontinuous water table. Here in Nevada County people may think that we get
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2. All About Wells aids residents in well water conservation | The... http://www.theunion.com/news/business/13044492-113/soltero...
our water from an underground river, but our water is stored in isolated fractures and
they’re of unknown depth and often unknown orientation. That’s why you may hear people
say ‘My neighbor has 30 gallons a minute and I have six.’ You wonder why that is, and that’s
part of the reason.”
According to Soltero, due to the various factors that can affect the way groundwater is
produced in any specific well, the best way to consult residents on their well water is to
examine each well as its own individual source of groundwater.
“Each well has its own personality...”
Evelyn Soltero
owner of All About Wells
“When we drill a well into the ground, we drop a pump in and we connect a whole electrical
system to that pump,” Soltero said. “Each well has its own personality, so it’s not just the
geology and the topography in which the land is drilled, it’s also the mechanic’s of how that
well operates. You throw in the people that operate the wells and what their life styles are,
and you have a complex system that really requires awareness, especially in this drought.”
For a $400 fee, Soltero will go out to a property for a two-hour consult to inspect the
qualities of the well and its surroundings, using a digital terrain navigator, all in an attempt
to understand the personality of a resident’s well.
“Some people call me because they have a well system that’s running poorly and they’re
wanting to know why,” Soltero said. “Sometimes they call me because they have yet to drill a
well and they want to be good stewards of their lands and want to know how to manage their
well once it’s in place.”
Some of her clients also express issues with their water quality, Soltero said, to which she
will do a thorough investigation into the well, and the resident’s land management.
“I chat with people about their lifestyle, they often know more about their land than I do,”
Soltero said. “Where’s the runoff occur? Is there standing water when it rains? I just
investigate to how their land is managed, and all impacts they have on water and how it
infiltrates to the surface.”
Soltero says that through her business she has been able to help customers conserve their
water use during the drought, through careful tweaks in residential water systems.
“Maybe you put in a water conditioning system or a softener, and all of those systems have
demands on your well,” Soltero said. “There are devices that you can install into your well
system that will stop your pump in the event that it runs out of water, so you’re not burning
up a $2,225 piece of equipment.”
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Soltero said one of her clients saves up to 100 gallons of water a day because of the changes
she has made in their well system. Grass Valley resident Dan Crebbin said he hired Soltero
for advice to help him manage his well through the drought.
“So far, it has proven to be invaluable,” Crebbin said. “She has very good ideas and a firm
grasp of the material she deals with. She walked our land with us, pointing out various
aspects pertinent to groundwater management. Overall I was very pleased and felt that I
gained some essential knowledge of the subject.”
Ancillary to individual well consultation, Soltero also offers, through her business, a free
Know Your Nevada County Water seminar scheduled for Sept. 23, along with classes on
residential well management to be offered on Sept. 27 and Oct. 18, all to be held at Sierra
Commons in Nevada City.
Nevada City resident Ed Sheffner met Soltero through her previous classes on residential
wells, and said the classes were helpful in describing the elements and environmental factors
of residential water wells in Nevada County.
“I now have a much better understanding of how my well works,” Sheffner said. “How to
maintain its operation, and how to manage the land around it ensure a regular and
sustainable source of water. (Soltero) is a well trained and experienced professional with
extensive knowledge of the hydrology of the county, especially ground water.”
For more information go to www.invitewatertostay.com.
To contact Staff Writer Ivan Natividad, email inatividad@theunion.com or call
530-477-4236.
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