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?
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>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?
Before the advent of industrialized agriculture, the heavy focus on en-masse animal husbandry, and industrialization in general, which tends to ***heavily*** pollute the environment around and downstream of the farms due to chemical runoff and feces contamination, many water-sources were, comparatively-speaking, safe to drink, especially in comparison to today.
You can read reports from Colonial (1600s-1700s) New England in the US of people drinking straight from rivers that are, in the modern day, ***hopelessly-polluted*** from upstream factories and agricultural runoff
In addition, rock, sand and soil acts as a *relatively*-decent filter for water: drinking water from a well might be safer than drinking the “same” water from the river next to the well.
They got sick, very sick, fatally sick, from diseases like cholera.
Billions of people around the world still rely on wells for water and millions die every year from water-borne diseases.
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You may be surprised to find that water filters are just sand gravel and charcoal, shit like that. Different mediums.
I grew up drinking well water in my house, and I’m under 40 in the US.
It was explained to me, that there are pockets of ancient water in the clay layer of the soil underground. It’s also important to know that soil is the best and natural way to filter water. So not only for water to get so far underground, you know it’s been filtered, but the fact that it’s been protected/sealed in a clay “bubble”, it’s clean potable water underground.
I always hated ‘city water’ I when I was a kid, since I was used to well water. It tasted to me like drinking chlorinated pool water. Even now that I have city water in my townhouse, I have a Brita tap filter so I can’t taste the water, because it tastes like bleach or chlorine to me still.
Now that I think about it, does it taste that way to everybody? Even people that grew up on city water?
I have a well. The water is about 175 feet underground, in a natural cistern. All the water in there has been filtered pretty well by all the various layers of earth its seeped through. I have a simple filter on my water system that keeps my water clear of biological contaminates and I have a softener for the excess iron. I use that for showers, cleaning etc. I have a five stage reverse osmosis filter I use for the drinking water, but it’s not strictly necessary.
Humans have been purifying water for [1000s of years](https://www.lenntech.com/processes/disinfection/history/history-water-disinfection.htm. most contaminates have been diseases fromm humans or animals. Someone already mentioned cholera in another comment. Ex. If you have cholera and your human waste gets into the ground water, anyone who gets water from a nearby well could get cholera.
I have a well. I do not live in the sticks, just three miles outside San Antonio city limits. When my development was laid out in the 70s the city was still almost ten miles away but has since blown past us.
Our well water comes from the same place as city water does, the Edwards Aquifer, which is basically an massive underground lake. The limestone that makes up the geography of this area acts as a natural filter, so the water is safe to drink straight out of the ground. The city treats the water because of all the plumbing it must go through between coming out of the ground and reaching people’s homes which can introduce contamination. Water at my house goes ten feet to a reservoir and then thirty feet to the house.
That said, sometimes there are contaminates in people’s wells, up north where I’m from there is a certain bacteria that can found in the groundwater so you might have to pass it through a UV light filter. Other places probably have other things they might need to contend with.
Also, for everyone talking about “water from everywhere else but wells” there IS NOT GURANTEE the “clean” water you are getting is actually that clean.
The standards for treating water are crappy all over the world, sadly. Thankfully in 1974 the SDWA(Safe Drinking Water Act) in America went into effect and since the standards of drinking water has been high.
Now, obviously like Flint Michigan, someone not giving a fuck can certainly be a hazard to the people being served this water but…
Just always remember: when you turn your faucet on in America, 99.99 percent of the time its safe and drinkable…doesn’t mean its gonna be enjoyable though.
I prefer well water.
I live in an area that uses well water for the most part. The small cities use treated water but not in rural areas. A well company comes in and will drill a hole 100 to 500 feet down until they hit the aquifer and the perc is enough to sustain a household. They cap it and attach a pump. Fresh, clear, cold well water is the best. No taste of chemicals which is what notice most when drinking treated water anywhere. Especially chlorine. It’s like drinking pool water. Gross.
Note: perc = the gallons per minute the well produces without a pump i.e. natural water pressure from the aquifer
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