Borehole Installation and Drilling Consultancy
Boreholes offer significant advantages to businesses by eliminating seasonal uncertainties when it comes to their water. Owning a private water supply is a cost effective solution during harsh winters and prolonged hot summers, ensuring your business remains operational all year round.
How Source for Business can help
Our team assess each businesses individual requirements. Water borehole drilling can protect a business dealing with an unreliable supply. By reducing reliance on mains water supplies, boreholes provide water at a considerably lower cost with minimal environmental impact. Extracting up to 20,000 litres per day doesn't require a licence, potentially resulting in savings of £23,000 per year (*).
However, it's important to remember the drilling process for borehole installation which may disrupt business operations for a period. Once drilled, there are also ongoing maintenance costs. Gaining access to a water source may also require additional services, such as geotechnical site investigations. These initial and ongoing costs are often outweighed by future savings.
With a return on your initial investment possible within two years, even disused wells and springs on farms can be rejuvenated to provide additional drinking water supply options. Water boreholes can be drilled anywhere where there is sufficient underground water to extract. Whilst you don’t need to own the land, you do need to obtain landowners permissions before surveying or drilling takes place.
(*) Estimated cost savings may vary based on individual circumstances.
Contact us via the form below to explore borehole possibilities for your business today.
FAQs
There are several businesses that will benefit from installing a private water supply. Industries such as agriculture, car washes and manufacturing, require a lot of water. Unreliable water supplies and seasonal fluctuations could result in lost revenue in key periods. In those instances, well drilling is a simple solution to manage and maintain an efficient water level.
There are businesses we wouldn't recommend installing a private water source, such as offices or small retailers. Water well drilling services can be costly, with engineers assessing ground conditions and drillers digging deep to reach groundwater stores. Furthermore, ongoing maintenance and management costs requires additional resource. Often businesses prefer this to be managed by a business water retailer such as Source for Business.
Even without a water borehole, there are still options to save money on your business water bill. Our team offer water audit surveys and can help you negotiate a better tariff with your water wholesaler. Get a quote from Source for Business today.
Borehole and water well drilling can occur anywhere there is sufficient underground water to extract with landowners permission. This could be a car park, back garden or alleyway. You do not need to obtain planning permission for drilling.
If groundwater deposits are found on neighbouring land, you are required to get permission from the landowner to drill a borehole. If water supply is sufficient, you may be able to share resources with the landowner - reducing both water bills and rely on the national water supply.
It is worth noting that if you are planning to extract more than 20,000 litres of water per day from your well you will need a licence from the Environment Agency. This doesn’t impact and planning or permissions needed to start drilling.
The main thing to consider is access as engineers will be required to undertake geotechnical testing to locate the groundwater. Furthermore, it may be difficult to get a drill rig into an area with restricted access. These factors should be considered and discussed with the landowner before starting the process.
Our team can recommend a cost efficient, simple drilling solution and help you find the right company to work with.
Borehole or water well drilling requires electricity to reach the natural water table, usually around 60m below ground. After installation, the pump will require ongoing power. You can choose to supply power the water well pump from the main grid or choose a solar pump that works on renewable energy.
A key thing to remember is the purpose of your borehole. A solar pump system may not be as effective for businesses looking for a stable water supply during key seasons such as winter.
There is no fixed amount of time for borehole drilling services. The process involves underground site investigation to locate sufficient groundwater stores; drill rigs are brought in and then drilling begins. The depth of the hole depends on how deep the water store is found.
You don't need planning permission to drill a water well or borehole on property you own. However, if drilling more than 15m deep you must report your well to the British Geological Society (BGS). Most businesses won't require any permissions or licences to install a borehole on their land for domestic or commercial use.
If you plan to extract more than 20,000 litres of water per day, then you must apply for a water abstraction licence from the Environment Agency. Furthermore, at this volume you would also require a consent to investigate before you start drilling. Depending on your business’s location, you may be required to obtain permissions from local councils or authorities. Our team can support with all required level of permissions.
In 2025, well drilling services costs can vary but start from as little as £10,000. This varies depending on the contractors, project and location. There may be additional costs that occur such as geotechnical site investigations, equipment hires, and water quality audits.
Once groundwater has been located, you will be able to get a reliable quote based on borehole depth and requirements. There may be additional costs including installing the test pump equipment, wellhead and controls or filtration systems. Our team can support your business to ensure the project goes to plan, with all the functions you need to get the most out of your borehole.