Cleaning silt from a bored well

[CrankyDoug]

The well is 30 years old, 24 inch casing, supposedly 70 feet deep with water about 35 feet below the surface. We are in Georgia dead clay and the well is getting to the point where any amount of rain turns the water red.

I watched a few tube videos on building an airlift pump. Not much info on how high the device will lift above the water table. They aren't expensive to build but I really don't want to waste time on something that won't work.

One thought I had was to buy the head of a trash pump and fit it with a 2HP electric motor. Lower it down the well so that lift isn't a problem and let it work.

Another thought was to sacrifice a jet pump in the hope it would last long enough to remove the silt.

Still another option is to pay a well company some ridiculous sum of money for doing a lousy job of it.

Any suggestions?

Doug