Everyone knows that we get much of our usable water, including our drinking water, from the ground. Many homes and settlements outside of the usual water grid get all of their water from water wells, allowing them to be self sufficient and avoid the very steep cost of laying hundreds of miles of pipeline. Many people assume that making a well is as simple as digging a hole in the ground and waiting for it to fill with water. The fact is that drilling water wells involves a great deal of time, hard work and careful planning in order to provide useable water.
The first, and one of the most cautious stages of drilling water wells is finding the right places for those wells to go. While most holes in the ground will strike surface water if they are deep enough, water wells do not operate with surface water, which is often contaminated by human pollution or natural waste. When locating a water well, it is vital to make certain that the well will strike an abundant source of ground water, which is found hundreds of meters underground. Ground water is pure and needs minimal treatment before being potable, or safe to drink.
The second part of drilling water wells is, of course, the drilling itself. There are several ways to drill a water well shaft. The most common way is to use a rotating drill bit to grind into the earth. As the well shaft grows, it is flooded with a substance called “drilling mud”, which helps keep the drill bit cool and lubricated as well as helping the shaft walls maintain stability before a well casing can be added. A well casing is a rigid structure that keeps the shaft from collapsing as well as keeping surface water from contaminating the well water.
Finally, once a water well has been drilled, it is necessary to maintain the well with constant monitoring and regular testing. Drilling water wells is an excellent way to obtain potable water for people or for livestock, but since it relies on a natural water source, environmental conditions can change unexpectedly. It is recommended that water from a well be tested at least once a year to be certain that the water source has not become contaminated. It is also vital to keep all of the man-made parts of a water well in good working order, as a mechanical failure can lead to a home or settlement being left without water until repairs can be made.
The science of drilling water wells has come a long way since we first discovered the wealth of water under the ground. We have gone from small, easily tainted surface wells to huge, powerful, machine-driven water wells that can meet a whole community’s needs. With careful planning and dedicated maintenance, a water well can become the heart of a home’s water system, keeping pure water flowing for the use of everyone who lives there. Just remember to get your well water tested on a regular basis!
Save time and money by knowing where the water is before you drill your well. Contact American Water Surveyors at:
Call: 877-SEISMO1 (734-7661) or 817-788-5716
Fax: 817-210-4225
Email: [email protected]
