Pat wrote, on Sun, 29 Jun 2014 07:43:28 -0400:

Could any of your neighbors' pumps be pumping from the same
underground water? In other words, are your 5 hour rest periods
really rest periods? If you repeat that experiment at 5:00 am, will
the results be different?

That's interesting, as I have no way of knowing how deep the neighbor's
wells are. So, your point is valid that the "rest period" I gave the
well isn't necessarily a rest period if the neighbors are pumping at
the same time.

I do not know how fast water moves through rock, so a lot would depend
on how localized the "cone of depression" is:
http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/gw_ruralhom...ages/fig14.gif

Googling, I found that diagram in this document:
Ground Water and the Rural Homeowner, by the USGS
http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/gw_ruralhom...owner_new.html

The rest periods might not be rest periods if, for example, multiple
400' wells are using the exact same aquifer.

This is a valid point, which I am looking up to learn more about.
http://water.usgs.gov/edu/earthgwdecline.html