Brief description

Primary use: Accessing groundwater (aquifers) for drinking and irrigation.
Secondary uses: Storage (stepwells), refrigeration (keeping food cool).
Scale: Household to village.

An excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water.

Use / Function

Water Table: The hole penetrates the ground until it reaches the zone of saturation where water fills the spaces between soil particles or rock fractures.
Seepage: Groundwater seeps into the well cavity, filling it to the level of the water table.
Extraction: Water is lifted via bucket, pump, or pressure (artesian).

Location: Look for signs of water (green vegetation in dry areas, animal tracks, dowsing).
Digging: Excavate a shaft. Ensure the diameter is large enough to work in but small enough to be stable.
Lining (Casing): As you dig deeper, line the walls with stone, brick, or wood to prevent collapse and keep surface contaminants out.
Completion: Dig past the water table level to ensure supply during dry seasons.
Protection: Build a wall (parapet) above ground and a cover to prevent animals/debris from falling in.

Lining: Stone, Brick, Concrete rings, or rot-resistant Wood.
Tools: Shovel, Pickaxe, Rope and buckets for removing soil.
Extraction: Rope and Pulley, or a Pump.

Dug Well: Hand-dug, large diameter, shallow.
Driven Well: A pipe with a pointed screen is driven into soft ground. Good for shallow sand aquifers.
Drilled Well: Deep, narrow borehole made by machines. Reaches deep, clean aquifers.
Qanat: A horizontal tunnel tapping into a hill’s water table (ancient Persian technology).
Stepwell: Large, architectural wells with stairs to reach the fluctuating water level.

Collapse: Extremely dangerous to dig. Walls can cave in; gases (CO2, Methane) can accumulate.
Contamination: Shallow wells are easily polluted by nearby latrines or livestock.
Drying Up: If the water table drops (drought or over-extraction), the well runs dry.
Salinity: In coastal areas, over-pumping can draw in saltwater.