What we drill
An irrigation well on the High Plains has one job: deliver water to a center pivot. RK Drilling drills new and replacement irrigation wells, and we work with a variety of well sizes.
We drill with a DrillMax 450 mud rotary rig. Drilling fluid circulates down the drill pipe and back up the hole, carrying the cuttings to the surface and holding the hole open in the loose sand, gravel and caliche of the Ogallala. Once the hole is at depth, the casing and screen are set and the gravel pack goes in around them.
Replacement wells on a declining aquifer
Most irrigation wells drilled on the High Plains today are replacements. The High Plains Water District’s 2026 water-level survey put Parmer County’s average saturated thickness at 44 feet, down almost 11 feet over the last ten years. Castro County lost nearly 18 feet in the same period.
Permits and spacing
Parmer, Bailey and Lamb counties, and parts of Castro and Deaf Smith, are inside High Plains Underground Water Conservation District No. 1. Any well equipped to produce 17.5 gallons per minute or more needs a district permit before drilling, and spacing from neighboring wells and property lines depends on the pump rate.
On the New Mexico side, the Curry County and Portales basins are closed to new appropriations. New irrigation wells in Curry and Roosevelt counties are replacement or supplemental wells filed against an existing water right with the Office of the State Engineer.
We provide answers to questions regarding permits in both states.
Where we drill irrigation wells
Farwell, Friona, Bovina, Muleshoe, Hereford, Dimmitt, Littlefield, Earth, Sudan, Plainview, Lubbock and Amarillo on the Texas side; Texico, Clovis, Portales, Melrose and Grady on the New Mexico side. See the full service area.