How does a well work? Is there a finite amount of water in a drinking well? Why is it okay to drink? Do they somehow replenish water or if they dry up that is it?
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A well works by digging down into an underground source of water to access it. That is the simplest answer to your question.
Dirt comes in various types and layers. You have organic topsoils, gravel, sand, clay, rock, etc. The goal of a well is to dig through impermeable (not able to penetrate) layers like solid rock or clay to access permeable (able to penetrate) layers like gravel or sand that carry water in between the particles (I’ll call this the storage layer).
The impermeable layer is essential. It keeps water from the surface from entering into the storage layer without being filtered through the various layers. That being said sometimes wells get contaminated and require flushing or sterilization.
Technically there is a finite amount of water accessible through the well, but since water is able to travel dozens if not hundreds of miles in this layer of sand/gravel it’s not really an issue.
It is OK to drink because the water in a well has been filtered. Is has had to travel a long ways through the layers of dirt to reach that layer and the sand/gravel itself will filter it as well. Pools often use a sand filter because it just works. The particles fit close together and over a long distance will filter enough for it to be drinkable.
The only real way to replenish a depleted well is to pray for rain in the overall area or to dig deeper and hope you find another layer with water. Since it’s deeper it’s less likely to dry up since it’s probably collected from a larger area.
Another way to think of it is this. Picture the nearest large river. It’s probably downhill from you. That water is forcing itself into the ground due to weight, but it cannot travel uphill because of gravity. It forces itself though the dirt, clay, etc into the storage layer and fills it. In order to access that layer on your property you have to dig down to it and then dig a bit more so you have a bit of a pool to draw from so that you can use as much as you want without running into the restriction that the storage layer has. A well fills slowly but having a deeper well makes sure you always have enough at the time
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