Episode 5: Tube Well
“A tube well?”
A tube well is a pipe-shaped well installed by excavating into the ground to draw up groundwater.
Usually, when people say they’re digging for groundwater, they mean a tube well, and looking it up online, there were quite a few companies that drilled them.
But setting that aside, finding a decent company wasn’t easy.
Depending on the company, many mess around with the contract, and if things don’t go well, some take the deposit and disappear, or so I heard.
After looking into it alone for a few days, I figured this was a time when it was best to find one through an acquaintance after all, so I went to see Uncle Park Yeong-nam at Yongcheon Supermarket.
“Yes, water isn’t coming out well, so I think I need to drill a tube well.”
As Village Head Hwang Chang-sik had said, after some time passed, water started coming out again, but not long after, it began to dwindle once more.
It was partly because the weather was dry, but it also seemed to be because water usage had increased as spring came and people started various farming activities.
“Well, I heard that even when your father was around, there were many times when water was scarce.”
“Did Father say that?”
“Yeah. He often said that especially when May came and they started flooding the rice paddies, it was chaos with everyone fighting over water.”
Well, what crop in the countryside doesn’t need water? But rice is a crop that especially needs large amounts.
When I lived in the city, even if the news reported a drought, it didn’t really resonate with me, but here, the feeling was definitely different.
“Then I think it would be good to drill the well quickly before May arrives.”
After hearing the uncle’s words, my heart leaned even more toward digging for water.
“If you drill a tube well yourself, it’ll cost quite a bit of money…”
I had inquired with several companies and done some rough market research, and sure enough, it cost about ten million won, just as the village head had said.
“I have some money saved up from when I worked at a company.”
I was thirty now.
After graduating from university, I immediately got a job at an accounting firm and started earning money.
I had worked at a company for about four years and was able to save about thirty million won. In addition, my father had saved about thirty million won.
He had said he would help out a bit when I got married, but it seemed he hadn’t just been saying that—he had really been saving up.
I had originally planned to use this money to live quietly in the countryside.
Even though I had savings, money is something that drains away like a leaky bucket once you start spending it, so I had planned to earn my living expenses through farming. But winning the lottery caused my plans to deviate slightly.
Of course, in a good way.
“Then that’s a relief. These days, I heard many people take out loans when returning to farming, but don’t do that. Use your saved money sparingly. Even if the loan interest rates are low, it’s still all debt—money you have to pay back.”
I had heard that to encourage rural resettlement, the government offered low-interest loans to young people returning to farming.
I heard they invested a lot of money into returning to farming—buying land, building houses, constructing vinyl greenhouses, and so on. But as expected, that was a story that didn’t really apply to me anymore.
“Don’t worry. I won’t take any loans.”
“I do know someone who’s good at drilling wells… Should I introduce you to him?”
“Is he good at digging for groundwater?”
“He’s good at it. He’s been digging for groundwater in Haenam for over twenty years.”
“Then please introduce me.”
***
“Lee Min-woo?”
“Yes, I’m Lee Min-woo.”
I contacted the number Uncle Yeong-nam had given me, and I was able to meet the owner of a well-drilling company faster than I expected.
The owner offered me a handshake and gave me his business card, which had the company name “Cheongsong Groundwater” written on it.
“So, you need a tube well?”
“Yes. I’ll use it at home, and later for agricultural water as well.”
For now, I needed water for the house.
If I only thought about household water, I wouldn’t need that much, but considering I planned to do some farming later, it seemed better to have plenty of water.
“Hmm… First, let’s check if there’s water around here.”
Ham Yeong-gil went to his car, opened the door, and brought something back. Looking at it, it was an L-shaped dowsing rod.
“You find water with that?”
I had seen it used on TV before when searching for ghosts or water veins.
Watching it back then, I had wondered if you could really find anything with it, and the thought of seeing it in person was a little exciting.
“That’s right. First, if you want to drill a tube well, it’s best to do it on your own land that adjoins a road. Is there a place like that nearby?”
At the uncle’s words, a small vegetable plot right behind my house came to mind. It was close to the house, so I thought it would be fine, but when I showed him the spot, he shook his head.
“This place seems too narrow for the machinery to get in…”
“Is that so? There’s another field up there. It’s quite large.”
I pointed to the field where I had grown cabbage last year and where my parents’ graves were, and Ham Yeong-gil suggested we go take a look.
I walked along the path following Ham Yeong-gil as he held the dowsing rod, and the more I watched, the more fascinating it was.
“When you pass over a water vein with that, does it spin around?”
“Yes. It reacts.”
After arriving at the field, Ham Yeong-gil started walking around here and there with the dowsing rod, and a moment later, he looked at me and spoke.
“If we dig around here, I think water will come out.”
“Is that so?”
“You just get a feeling. If we dig here, probably a lot of water will come out.”
“What if water doesn’t come out, by any chance?”
From what I had learned about tube wells, I had heard there were many cases where water didn’t come out while digging or where the amount was less than expected.
Worried about that, I asked, but the owner spoke as if it were no big deal.
“Normally, we give you up to two extra digs for free, and if water still doesn’t come out, we either charge extra or give up. But this time, I’ll keep digging until it comes out.”
“Really?”
“It’s partly because Yeong-nam introduced you… and from what I heard, you’re Dong-hui’s son, right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
When my father’s name came up, I was a little surprised. I had just thought he was someone who knew Uncle Yeong-nam, but it seemed he knew my father too.
“We used to drink together, the three of us, a few times back in the day.”
“Ah, I see.”
“So don’t worry about the water and leave it to me.”
“Thank you.”
I thanked the uncle, and he brought a stick and began marking the spot where the tube well would be drilled.
“When will you drill the groundwater?”
“First we have to report it and get a permit before we can dig.”
“Ah, I see. Do I have to file the report?”
“No, we’ll take care of everything.”
I had been worried about how to file the report, but I felt relieved when the uncle said he would handle it.
“How much water will come out?”
“We won’t know until we dig, but if you want to use it for agricultural water, it needs to produce at least fifty tons per day.”
“I see. Since we’re doing it anyway, I hope a lot comes out.”
“It’s not good if too much comes out either. If it exceeds a hundred tons a day, you have to undergo an environmental impact assessment, and that requires a lot of paperwork and the conditions get stricter.”
“Ah, there’s something like that too.”
“Groundwater is an important resource that the country has to manage, in a way, so there are laws for that. That’s why between fifty and a hundred tons per day is just right for agricultural use.”
As we talked, I was able to become quite friendly with the owner and obtained a lot of various information.
“Then I’ll contact you again once the permit comes out.”
“Yes, please go safely.”
I had decided to drill a tube well, but I had been a bit worried about the more complicated process than I had expected. However, meeting someone reliable through Uncle Yeong-nam’s introduction put me in a good mood.
“I wish we could dig the groundwater quickly.”
***
Thud. Thud. Thud.
I woke up to a loud noise from early in the morning.
Thinking about it, today was the day the tube well permit had come through and we were going to drill the groundwater. I hurriedly washed my face and went outside.
When I went to our field, Ham Yeong-gil was working with laborers, driving a large iron pipe into the ground with a big machine.
“Uncle, hello.”
“Yeah. We just started working.”
After calling several times regarding the tube well, I had grown a bit closer to Ham Yeong-gil, and he told me to treat him comfortably, just like Uncle Yeong-nam.
There was another reason I had grown closer to him: the uncle had agreed to take only nine million won for the tube well.
He said he normally had to take ten million won, but since I was Dong-hui’s son, he would give me a special discount.
“Please have some of this while you work.”
I distributed the canned coffee I had prepared to the uncle and the workers.
“I was just thirsty, so this is perfect.”
The uncle started drinking the canned coffee, and I opened one and drank too. Then I watched the well-drilling process, and it was more interesting than I had expected.
“So that’s how you dig the ground?”
I pointed at the long pipe going underground, and the uncle nodded.
“Yeah, by how many of those go in, we know how deep we’ve dug.”
“I see.”
Indeed, when else would I ever see the process of drilling for groundwater if not now?
I was watching the fascinating work, losing track of time, and after some time had passed, water began trickling out bit by bit.
“Oh, water is coming out!”
I shouted in amazement, and the uncle smiled as if he had expected it.
“See? I told you there was water.”
Actually, when the uncle said he had found the water vein with the dowsing rod, I had searched the internet to see if that was really possible.
But on the internet, there was an unexpected word written.
Pseudoscience.
There was no scientific proof for dowsing rods, yet everyone just believed it worked. Frankly, I had felt a little uneasy after learning this fact.
Looking further into it, these days they said advanced scientific machines were used to survey strata and confirm whether water was present.
I had been worried about the dowsing rod method the uncle used, but since he had said he would keep digging until water came out, I decided to trust him.
But just as the uncle had said, water really did come out. However, there was something slightly disappointing.
The water wasn’t gushing out as vigorously as I had expected.
“But it’s not bursting out like an oil gusher?”
I had once seen a video on YouTube of oil being pumped up, where black liquid shot up to the sky.
I had thought water would do the same when drilling a tube well, but seeing it flow so meekly through the pipe left me a bit disappointed.
At my words, Uncle Ham Yeong-gil smiled and approached the machine.
Then he fiddled with something and started a countdown.
“Three!”
“Two!”
“One!”
The moment the uncle finished speaking, a jet of pure white water shot up toward the sky—exactly like the video I had seen on YouTube.
As I watched the water trickling through the pipe, I had wondered if there was less groundwater underground than expected, but that worry vanished in an instant.
“How’s that?”
The uncle shouted at me as he was hit by the water falling after it shot skyward, and looking at him, I said:
“Uncle! I feel completely refreshed!”