Groundwater Conservation

A well works by inserting a pump inside a drilled hole to bring water up and into a house through a pipe.
If there is no groundwater available to the pump, it sucks air instead of water.
When the tap is turned on, nothing comes out. In most cases, this is caused by the underground water table dropping below the level of the well pump.

Practice water conservation.
Try to limit the demand on your well by spreading out your daily water-use activities such as bathing, watering the garden, and clothes washing as much as possible during the day.
If necessary, take laundry to a local Laundromat to conserve your well water supply.
Invest in water efficient fixtures for faucets and showerheads, turn off water softeners and replace older toilets with newer, low flow models to save on water use.
Take the time to repair any dripping faucets and leaking toilets.
These seemingly small measures can save thousands of gallons per year in an average household and may help to prevent your well from going dry.

This can be difficult to determine.
Tap water that is muddy or murky in appearance or other changes in water quality can indicate that the well water level is getting low.
Air that gets in the line may cause your spigots to cough and sputter as air comes through the line instead of water. Sometimes there will not be a sign until the submersible well pump is pumping air.
One certain way to determine if your well is running out of water is to measure the actual water level. This can be difficult with a deep well, and you may want to call a water well driller. It’s helpful to know how deep your well is, what depth the pump has been set, and what the water level is in the well. Knowing the yield of the well can also help you assess the stability of your water supply.

Water levels fluctuate on a seasonal basis, raising in the wet months and falling in the dry months.
A well will not recover after just one rainfall event. It takes several slow, soaking rains for the water to filter through to the ground.
Shallower wells may see their water levels rise more quickly with a return to rain.
Deeper wells are likely to ride out a drought with no problems; but if they are affected, it will take more rainfall to filter down to their depth.

That answer depends on your well. Is the drought worse than usual? Has this happened during previous droughts? Have your neighbors’ wells also been affected? Have you observed changes in your well: taste or smells in the water? Answers to these questions will determine if the problem is a falling water table or failing well.
Deepening a well so that it is below the water table may insure a more drought resistant water supply, although deepening a well is never a guarantee that you will get more water. Redeveloping an existing well may also make it more efficient.
Hydrofracturing, a technique that uses high-pressure water to open fractures in surrounding rock and thereby increase water flow, may also improve your water supply. Talk with a qualified water well contractor to determine which strategy may work best in your situation.

Source: Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments