What do you do when a well goes dry in a drought? how often does this happen in the southwest?

For everyone that's in the southwest areas like CA and arizona, west coast and anywhere else dry, has your well ever gone dry in a drought?  

Were you able to resolve it?  if so how?  and how much did it cost?

I'm a little worried about choosing a homestead location in a dessert climate because I need stable access to grow food for home use.

Thanks!

Around my area many wells are going dry. Many of them wells that were drilled or dug in the late 60's and early 70's and all were quite shallow, and under 50 feet.  Some cases depending on the casing condition they are actually going down the same hole and going deeper. In others moving the wells site is required.
There are many ways to mitigate low rainfall dry areas. It seems that in your previous posts you have a concern for water availability. That's good you're thinking ahead.
Many, many permaculture ways to address water shortfalls. Sounds like you're still searching for properties and until your feet land on them and you can sit in the middle and look about hard to determine what would work. Water harvesting, swales, greening the desert, half-moon planting, even should you find a property with a guaranteed water abundance. Using or learning about some of these proven water saving methods would ensure that you are protecting such a precious resource. What's available now in ten years might be quite different.

We had our well go dry when dear hubby forgot to turn off the water while filling up a water trough.

I cant remember how long it took to come back though it did.

I saw on Homestead Rescue where a well had gone dry though it actually still had water in it.  If I remember correctly, a rope was lowered until it reached the water level and knowing the depth helped with the restoration.  A pump was added at that depth.

It might be advisable to get the statistic on the well if a person is buying property with a well.

Here is Texas the state has a website with every well that has been drill, when it was drill, and the depth.

We have a very old well in far southwest Oklahoma.  It finally petered out, but I'm sure it's quite silted in as well.  In the past we could have hired a driller to overhaul it.  Now that's now allowed and we have to pop a new hole.  On the happy side, we have a refurbished windmill that we'll install in the new well.