In early 2007, a homeowner in Southlake, in Tarrant County, hired a licensed water-well driller to drill a well for his house, his irrigation and three more homes. The driller told him the well would be sealed with concrete to at least 250 feet, court records show, to keep out the Woodbine Aquifer, which the opinion says is usable only for irrigation because of its iron and other minerals.
Drilling finished on Friday, May 4, 2007. The driller testified that he capped the casing before he left, but admitted the trial was the first time he had told anyone so. A state investigator testified there was not a proper cap on the well.
Heavy rain fell that weekend. On Monday the driller found the well bore collapsed and blocked about twenty feet down. He poured dry concrete mix straight into the hole, onto the standing water above the blockage, until dry mix showed two feet below the surface. “It’s much like putting in fence posts out at the farm,” he testified…