eli5: When people used wells for drinking water, how did they not get sick? Was there some type of filter or was the water just naturally clean?
In: 6475
FINALLY! A topic I can comment on!!!
You realize millions upon millions of people in first world countries still use wells right? In America alone there’s 15-20 million residential wells. My town municipality doesn’t have town water. Every house in my town is on their own private well.
The ground water is filtered through the dirt, rock and sand it naturally passes through. Once they find a vein of water in the ground they drill and sleeve the hole with a pipe. The water fills the pipe and a pump that’s placed on the bottom of the well pumps it into a pressure vessel in your house. The pressure vessel is essentially a holding tank that has an air bladder in it to push against the water to keep it pressurized, when you open a faucet the water gets pushed out of the vessel and out the faucet. You do need a sediment filter to filter out any sand and silt but bacteria isn’t normally a concern because the well is sealed and cleaned no critters can get in. Once the well is drilled The first thing they do to a new well is test the water before allowing it to be consumed. They test for viruses, bacteria, mold, etc and if they detect anything they know how much and how long to shock the well with chlorine. Once the water passes and the chlorine is all flushed through the water is safe for consumption.
Shallower wells use the same concept however the pump is placed inside the house next to the pressure vessel rather than at the bottom of the well sleeve. That style pump is called a jet pump.
It’s also a very good practice to have the water tested every year or two
Latest Answers