Subject: Water Wells by Duncan Long

From: [email-masked] (George Guillory)
Date: 18 Oct 1994 18:45:56 GMT

Copyright (C) Duncan Long 1994. All rights reserved.

WATER WELLS
     Having your own source of water during an emergency can be a
big plus.  While the following techniques of creating water sources
won't work everywhere, especially in areas with large beds of rock
just a few feet underground or where the water table is very deep,
they will work in most areas.  It should also be noted that in some
areas of the US, digging your own well has been outlawed.  The
reader will need to decide for himself whether or not to obey such
a law.  (The author recommends obeying any laws "on the books.")
     The art of digging or drilling a water well has nearly become
a lost art in the US.  The main "secret" to creating a water well
is finding the proper location for it.  Space doesn't permit going
into this in great detail, but an important point to keep in mind
are that water tends to seek low points; a well drilling operation
is more likely to strike water at the base of a hill than at its
top (or at least you'll reach it sooner).  Also, keep in mind the
fact that care must be taken not to dig a well where the water
might be contaminated by sewage systems, chemical contaminants,
surface run off or the like.
     ("Old timers" claim that one of the best ways to find water
which is within 20 to 30 feet of the ground is to find a spot where
willows or cottonwood trees are growing naturally--not planted
there--and flourishing.  Water is generally close to the surface of
the earth in such areas.)
     There are a number of books which outline the best methods of
finding the proper site for a well (along with a lot of other
helpful information).  Among the best of these is the WATER WELL
MANUAL by Ulric Gibson and Rexford Singer (available for $9 from
the US Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402); this book
explains what you need to create--or find someone to create--a
modern well.  
     Another good aid is a regional map of your area showing
surface drainage and rock types in your area and tracing the source
of your ground water.  Maps from the American Association of
Petroleum Geologists Bookstore (P. O. Box 979, Tulsa, OK 74101)
will help you out as well many local county extension agents. 
Other good literature includes:  PLANNING FOR AN INDIVIDUAL WATER
SYSTEM ($7 from AAVIM, Engineering Center, Athaens, GA 30702);
WATER SUPPLY FOR RURAL AREAS AND SMALL COMMUNITIES ($28 from World
Health Organization, 49 Sheridan Ave., Albany, NY 12210); MANUAL OF
INDIVIDUAL WATER SUPPLY SYSTEMS (US Government Printing Office);
PLANNING FOR AN INDIVIDUAL WATER SYSTEM ($7 from American
Association for Vocational Instructional Materials Engineering
Center, Athens, GA 30602); and GROUND WATER MANUAL ($14 from the US
Government Printing Office).
     The surest way to have a water well available for emergency
use is to have a well drilled by a commercial driller NOW and then
leave it covered but ready-to-go if you don't need it now.  Having
a water well ready to go would save a lot of tears and sweat and
really make the transition from your municipal supply to your own
well considerably less traumatic.  
     For a do-it-yourselfer, it is also possible to dig your own
well so that it will be available later for an emergency.  The key
to doing such work is a small well digging machine called the
"Hydra Drill."  The device comes with its own hoist and power unit
and can dig a well up to 3-1/2 inches wide down to 200 feet.  Cost
is slightly over $500 and information on the unit is available from
Deeprock Manufacturing (Box 1, Opelika, AL 36802).
     If you have to dig a well following a disaster, you'll have to
do so without any specialized machinery or power sources. 
Blasting, water-jet drilling, etc., are all out.  Such wells will
have to be dug using mostly muscle power and methods used by our
forefathers.  (While hard to do, you should remember that, not all
that long ago, this was THE way of digging wells.)
     Digging and shoring up the hole as it is dug can be done with
only a spade, but such work is hard, slow, and very dangerous. 
Furthermore, once in, a shovel-dug well is dangerous since children
often manage to fall into them. 
     Another large problem has to be faced since shoring systems
are normally based on straight boards which create square shafts
and, in turn, square-walled wells which are very inferior in
strength to round-walled wells.  Added to the problem is that the
wood shoring will gradually rot, swell with the moisture of the
well, and--eventually--cave in.  This means that, if the well is to
last, it must be lined with rock which is MAJOR work.  (Modern
hand-dug wells in Third World countries use large, precast concrete
cylinders--sometimes augmented with a cast-in-place cylinder at the
top of the well--in which the workers dig.  As dirt is removed from
the base of the well, the cast cylinder sinks into the excavation
acting as a caisson.  But such large-scale wells are really im-
practical in an emergency situation unless you have a large
community of workers to help.)
     A better route to take in well digging is to work on a small
scale and create a well of a smaller diameter.  In areas with very
firm soil (little sand in the dirt) and where ground water is 50
feet or less from the surface, a well can be put in using just a
hand auger.  (Hand auger bits are sometimes used for digging post
holes and can be found in many farm communities at supply stores or
ordered through most Farmers' Co-Ops.)  
     The auger is "hand powered" by twisting it into the ground
until the screw head is filled with dirt.  At that point, the auger
is lifted out of the hole and the dirt knocked out of it.  As the
well hole deepens, the handle is removed from the auger and a
length of pipe added to it to make it longer so that the hole can
be dug farther into the ground.  As the length of the pipe on the
auger becomes greater, a 10-foot or higher platform is normally
made over the well sight so that the auger can be pulled out by a
man on the tower working in conjunction to another on the ground. 
When water is reached, an "augered" well is lined with pipe or
concrete sections to keep it from caving in or becoming con-
taminated with run-off surface water (these are important
considerations not to be overlooked in digging such a well).
     In areas where the soil is sandy, auger digging doesn't work
too well since the well tends to cave in before the water is
reached.  A digging method which works well in such soil is the
"sand point" or "driven" well.  Such wells are pretty simple and
quick to drill and might even be done on a "make do" basis with
household plumbing pipe (though the flow from such a well would be
rather small).  The sand point well works best when the water is
within 30 feet of the surface (which is often the case in areas
with sandy soil).
     One requirement for drilling a sand point well is to have the
"point" which, as the name suggests, has a pointed, spear-like end
which is easily driven into the ground.  The point section also has
a number of small holes in it so that water can flow into it while
sand and dirt are filtered out. 
     The best method of obtaining a point (and the pipe coupling to
connect to it) is simply to go to a irrigation supply company and
buy it (again, good places to try are local Farmers' Co-Ops or a
farmers supply store).  In a post-war situation, it would be
possible to make a point section with judicious grinding, shaping,
drilling, and welding; but these would entail a lot of work.  
     The sand point is usually driven into the earth by some sort
of weight which is dropped from a pulley hoist or the like.  The
tool designed for this is called a "bell;" the heavy bell driver
fits over the end of the pipe and has handles on either side so
that a couple of stout fellows might use it without a hoist.  (In
a real pinch, it is even possible to use a sledge hammer rather
than a bell to drive a sand point into the earth.)
     The top of the point and each section of pipe that is fitted
to it as it is driven into the ground are threaded.  This allows
them to be joined as the point goes down into the ground.  The
catch to the threading is that it's easy to ding it up, making pipe
joining impossible.  The secret to this is to use a protective cap
on the threading.  Provided it is screwed tightly into place over
the exposed threaded end of the pipe or point being driven into the
ground and a number of weaker blows to drive the pipe rather than
humongous heavy blows, this generally works in protecting the
threads.  
     After a section of pipe is driven most of the way into the
ground, the end cap is removed from the pipe, a coupling is
threaded onto it, and another piece of pipe fitted onto it.  The
end cap then goes back on top of the new section of pipe to protect
its threads.  (Care must be taken to check the protective cap from
time to time as the section is being driven into the ground since
the cap will tend to work loose under the blows of the bell; if it
comes loose and the cap is hit, the threads can be ruined.  And
ruining the threads means you'll have to abandon the sections of
pipe in the ground or rethread the section by hand.) 
     Larger diameter sand pipes can be driven by a weight inside
the pipe.  This has the advantage of not damaging the threading on
the pipe but is also a bit slower since the wight has to travel
farther as the well gets deeper.  
     Generally, five foot lengths of pipe are the maximum size to
be used with a sand point well.  When joining each section of pipe,
plumber's pipe compound will help prevent leaks and/or air getting
into the pipe when you're trying to pump water through it later on
(and also makes screwing the pipe together a bit easier).
     Holes in the sand point sometimes clog up and the amount of
flowing water drops down (often leading the user to think the well
has run dry).  One old method of unclogging the holes was to fire
a small caliber rifle (usually a .22 LR) down the well two or three
times.  This generally seemed to work quite well, though one has to
wonder if the lead of the bullets might have raised the lead
content of the water to rather high levels; in theory handloaders
could try light charges in centerfire guns with copper or brass
bullets--but such projectiles are currently illegal to make in the
US.  (Again the reader will have to weigh the pros and cons of
breaking the law and the author does not recommend breaking any
laws.)  Care should also be taken to be sure water doesn't get into
the barrel before it is fired.
     A cased well can also be dug by hand; such a well uses a
string of connected sections of light-weight casing.  The casing
shell is slowly lowered into a hole which is dug from inside the
casing itself with an auger in clay soil or with a tool called the
bail cup or bail bucket in sandy soil.  
     Bail cups have a number of different designs.  In sandy soil,
the tool is like a long bucket with a hinged valve at its bottom. 
A weight slides up and down inside the top of the bucket and the
rope connected to the bucket to pull it back up is connected to the
weight.  When the bucket is pulled back to the surface after being
dropped into the sandy soil, the suction of the weight tends to
pull the sand upward momentarily and the valve shuts below it to
keep the sand in it.
     Another type of bail bucket consists of a heavy set of blades
which first cut into the dirt and then tighten up to take a bite
out of the ground which will remain in the bail as it is hoisted
back out (this type of bail bucket works in a manner very similar
to a two-handled, manual post hole digger or some cranes used for
earth moving purposes). 
     When the case well is being dug, dirt, rock, and sand are
removed from below the casing.  Once this is done, the casing can
be pushed down and other sections added to the casing from above. 
The maximum practical depth for a cased well driven this way is
about 50 feet.  Sandy soil is considerably easier to do this in
than is clay soil.
     The bail is most easily moved up and down on a small hoist
built above the well.  This allows the bail to be dropped down the
casing shaft; a pulley is a great aid in hoisting the bucket and
dirt up out of the well.  Such work is best done by a number of
strong men with a tractor, car, or other motorized vehicle being
most ideal for hoisting the bail bucket.
     Getting the water up out of a well is usually achieved with an
electric pump.  Unfortunately, this may not be a viable option
during a disaster.  Fortunately, it's also possible to use a hand
pump on wells.  With a cased well, a surface pump dictates placing
a pipe inside the casing; however it is also possible to simply
drop a bucket or similar container fastened to a rope down into a
cased well and then pull it out after it has filled with water.  
     (It should also be noted that old cased wells are very common
in some areas of the country.  During an emergency, it would be
possible to decouple and remove electric pumps from these wells and
use a bucket, can, etc., on a rope or string to bring water up out
of the well.  This would be slow going but could be used to supply
drinking water when none was otherwise available.)
     Hand pumps aren't real common anymore and are best located and
purchased well before an emergency.  Two of the best-known, and
still available, of these pumps are the Dempster pump (Box 648,
Beatrice, NE 68310) and the Monitor pumps (133 Enterprise St.,
Evansville, WI 53536).  Prices of these range from around $90 to
$300 or more depending on the options you need on them (like
drinking fountains!), volume you'll be pumping from the well, and
the depth of your well.  
     Windmills--wind driven pumps--are practical in areas having a
wind which blows 5 mph or more for long periods of the day. 
Windmills are a bit unsightly and need to be about 15 feet above
surrounding trees and buildings to function well; this makes them
undesirable to many and could create a "point of interest" to
looters or scavengers if care isn't taken by the well owner.  
     A windmill does have some real pluses.  When coupled with a
storage tank (preferably inside in areas where the temperature gets
below freezing from time to time), the windmill can supply a large
amount of water to a household and, when used with a pressurizing
tank and pump, the water can be supplied with enough pressure to
make the water flow freely throughout the house even if the tank is
lower than the fixtures.  Dempster (at the above address) and Hel-
ler-Aller (Corner Perry and Oakwood, Napoleon, OH 43545) are the
two best known companies which make windmill pumps.
     A windmill (or other source of power) can also be used to
compress air.  This air can then be used to do various types of
work including running an air-driven pump located at the bottom of
a cased well.  This creates a water system which can be connected
to a houses piping to put "water on the tap" just as "in the big
city."  One maker of such a pump is Stauffer's Machine Shop (RD 3,
Pleasant Valley Rd., Ephrata, PA 17522); cost is around $300 to
$400 depending on the size and capacity of pump needed.
     It should also be noted that many pumping systems can "lose
their prime."  This means that the air-tight seal is lost and the
water in the pump and pipe leading from it drop their water down to
the level of the water source.  Many pumps can't overcome this
problem without having water added to the pump to "prime" it.  This
should be remembered and an "emergency priming" source of water
kept on hand at all times.  
     Spare valves for pumps are also a good investment since these
seem to be one of the first parts to wear out.  With these spare
parts and careful following of the manufacturer's recommendations
on lubrication and use, a good water pump will last a long time.

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The author of this article, Duncan Long, is well-known as the
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