WELLS

Wells are extremely important to all

societies. In many places wells provide a
reliable and ample supply of water for home
uses, irrigation, and industries. Where
surface water is scarce, such as in deserts,
people couldn't survive and thrive without
groundwater.
 Types of wells
Open well
An open well is if relatively large diameter
varying from 2 to 13m.
The depth of the open well is usually limited
to 30m.
The open well may be lined and unlined
In lined wells water enters from the bottom.
It penetrates 5 to 8m below the water table.
CLASSIFICATION OF OPEN
WELLS BASED ON LINING
Unlined (kacha well)
Well with pervious lining
Well with impervious
Unlined :
Well for temporary use, are kept unlined as the
lining measures the cost of well.
It should be dug in a harder soil. Which stand
vertically without lining.
Depth of the well is about 3 to 6 meters.
Discharge is very small quantity of water.
 Impervious lining
It permanent type of well. Mainly for irrigation of
small farms.
It provides a dependable source of supply as long as
the ground water condition are favorable.
In sandy soil, the impervious lining is also essential
from structural stability considerations.
Fairly deep. The depth is limited to 30m.
Brick or stone or masonry. Thickness of lining varies
from 30 cm to 70cm.
Well is not plugged so that the water can enter the
well from the bottom.
PERVIOUS LINING
It is constructed in the area, where no layer
of good water bearing strata is available,
with in a reasonable depth from the ground
surface
When the sub soil consist of fine sand layer,
fine sand also passes into the well along
with water. It collect to the well and has to
be removed periodically.
 Dug wells
Historically, dug wells were excavated by hand shovel to
below the water table until incoming water exceeded the
diggers bailing rate.
The well was lined with stones, bricks, tile, or other
material to prevent collapse, and was covered with a cap of
wood, stone, or concrete tile.
Dug have a large diameter and expose a large area to the
aquifer. These wells are able to obtain water from less-
permeable materials such as very fine sand, silt, or clay.
Disadvantages :they are shallow and lack continuous
casing and grouting, making them subject to
contamination from nearby surface sources, and they go
dry during periods of drought if the water table drops
below the well bottom
 Sunk wells
Sunk wells are constructed in soft sub soil
formations with the help of hard tools. The
sunk wells are commonly constructed
circular in shape .
In sunk wells ,the well is permanently lined
with pucca dried bricks or cement concretes
on the ground surface and then its sunk in
the subsoil formation by putting load on the
lining
 Types of open well
Shallow open well:- They penetrates the first
pervious stratum only and draws water from it. The
bottom of the shallow well doesnt rest on an
impervious layer called mota layer.
Deep open well rests on an impervious clay layer
called mota layer. It consist of bed of clay, cement
sand, kankar or other hard materials below water
table.
Water obtained from the deep well is relatively pure.
Mota layer act as a beam and provides the support
to the wall resting on its top.
 Tube well
It consist of a long vertical pipe of relatively
small daimeter,varying from 8to 60cm.
The depth of the tube well generally varies
from 50 to150m.
To obtain large discharge ,tube well are used.
Area of Flow and velocity of flow are quite
large so discharge is large.
The flow is radial which occurs from the side.
 Drilled wells
Drilled wells are constructed by either cable tool
(percussion) or rotary-drilling machines.
Drilled wells that penetrate unconsolidated material
require installation of casing and a screen to prevent
inflow of sediment and collapse.
They can be drilled more than 1,000 feet deep.
The space around the casing are sealed with
grouting material of either neat cement or bentonite
clay to prevent contamination by water draining
from the surface downward around the outside of
the casing.
 Driven wells. Driven wells are constructed by
driving a small-diameter pipe into shallow water-
bearing sand or gravel.
Usually a screened well point is attached to the
bottom of the casing before driving.
These wells are relatively simple and economical to
construct.
They can tap only shallow water and are easily
contaminated from nearby surface sources because
they are not sealed with grouting material.
Hand-driven wells usually are only around 30 feet
deep machine-driven wells can be 50 feet deep or
more.
CONSTRUCTION OF DRIVEN WELLS
 Bored or augered wells: This method of
excavation consists of shaving or cutting
material from the bottom of the hole by the
rotation of a cylindrical tool with one or more
cutting lips.
The process is quite analogous to boring a hole
in wood or metal with an auger or drill.
The auger may be driven by other power
sources such as animal or engine power. In this
case, the power source drives a horizontal ring
gear.
cylindrical bucket auger two-bladed auger helical auger tubular auger
 Jetted wells
This method makes use of a high velocity
stream of water to excavate the hole and to
carry the excavated material out of the hole.
Wells of 10 to 20 cm diameter
It therefore requires some type of pump,
either motor or hand-powered, of reasonable
capacity, as well as a supply of water.
Water pressure of 3 kg/cm2 (40 psi) for sand
and 7-11 kg/cm2 (11-150 psi) for clay or gravel
have been recommended. Under good
conditions, drilling progress is very fast.
 Ghanats
It is also Kanats, Quanats. They are slightly inclined
tunnels the upper end of which intersects the water
table.
Water flows along the floor of the tunnel until it
intersects the ground surface at some location of
lower elevation. Vertical shafts extend from the
ceiling of the tunnel to the ground surface.
Ghanats have been constructed in the Middle East
for the past 2500 years.
They may be several kilometers long and have been
used both for irrigation and municipal water supply.
Many are still in use in certain regions of Iran.
 CAVITY WELLS
Constructed to tap aquifers overlain by non
caving confining layers
Consist of a casing pipe without any strainer
terminating at the bottom of confining layer
in a cavity in the aquifer
Adv: Low construction cost
Disadv: Well failures result from the
collapse of overlying confining layers and
excess sand pumping
COLLECTOR WELLS
Consist of a dug well with
one or more radial
perforated casing or screens
connected to the well below
the water table
Yield large supplies of
water from relatively thin
aquifers from shallow depth
Located adjacent to surface
water sources