Water Wells 1.) Why do some run dry? 2.) Is rainwater what fills them up? 3.) If so, why isn’t the water dirty from the…ya know, DIRT?
In: 0
Water wells tap into the water table.
[If you want the video, version just check this one out.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG19b06NG_w)
Under ground at a certain depth there is water in dirt. If you’ve ever dug a hole at the beach and had it fill with water even though waves were not filling it, this is the same idea.
1.Water table goes lower. Think of filling a jar of marbles with a thick liquid, and sticking a straw half way down. Drink from the straw. The liquid around the straw goes down. It’s possible to drink from the straw so far the liquid doesn’t fill in around the marbles [fast enough and the straw runs dry.](http://www.columbia.edu/~vjd1/cone_of_depres.gif)
Now, if there were a bunch of people drinking from this, then the entire level goes down. If it goes deeper than the straw then it’s dry.
If the water table goes lower than the depth that the well is drilled to, then it goes dry.
2.In a roundabout way, yes. Rain water doesn’t directly pour into it as the main source, but rain water does replenish the underground resources by seeping into the ground.
3.It can be. Depending on the type of soil and environment it can be a bit murky. Though most of the time water slowly seeping through the dirt without a bunch of agitation will be relatively clear. Let it settle, run it through a filter and it’s good to go. Though spring water is just well water that has pushed its way to the surface and spring water can be pretty highly coveted.
Water will filter through just about anything, including a lot of rocks. So you dig your well down into rock, and you get water that’s filtered through the rock. And yeah, it’s just rainwater that’s filtered through dirt and then rocks. There’s a lot of water underground that’s been there for hundreds of thousands of years because it’s not evaporating.
When you use groundwater, for instance from a well, the water level in the surrounding rock goes down, forming a cone shape as water slowly moves back into the rock around your well. If your neighbor has a deeper well, and uses enough water, then their cone will engulf your well, and you won’t get any water. And if you’re drawing water from an ancient aquifer, we’re probably drawing water a lot faster than its being replenished, meaning the water level just keeps going down over time.
Latest Answers