Introduction

Forty million homes across the nation have private water supply systems, or wells. Of the homes currently being built in the U.S. today, roughly one quarter will depend on well water.

Rain and snow that seeps into the earth is called ground water. Ninety-seven percent of the world’s fresh water supply is ground water that lies below the earth’s surface. The top portion of this ground water, called the water table, can be anywhere from one to one thousand feet from the surface.

As far as we know, the volume of the earth’s water has been constant for the last three million years. Nature maintains this balance through a phenomenon known as the hydrological cycle. As water evaporates from the earth’s surface, in the form of relatively warm water vapor, it ascends into the relatively cold atmosphere where it condenses and returns to the earth in the form of precipitation. It is estimated that there are approximately 95,000 cubic miles of water moving between the earth and the sky at all times.

Years ago, before environmental pollution was an issue, one could dig a hole with a shovel in most places, from one to thirty feet deep, and reach the water table (figure #1). In some instances, the water table was substantially deeper than thirty feet, which made it necessary to devise methods to penetrate the earth further to reach the water (figure #2). One of the earliest methods developed, the percussion well, is still in use today. This machinery punches or pounds a hole, approximately eight inches in diameter, through as many layers of sand and stone as needed to reach a depth where water is plentiful and potable. This might be anywhere from 80 to 500 feet deep. The process is slow and time consuming, however, and it can take days or weeks to reach a suitable water supply. A quicker, more modern and economical system uses an auger bit to drill an eight inch hole to ground water in a fraction of the time.

No matter which system is used for digging or drilling the well, the hole must be retained in order to prevent it from caving in. A metal or plastic casing is used to line the well for this purpose as it is being dug.

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