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How to Find and Use Underground Water Sources

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© How to Find and Use Underground Water Sources

How to Find

and Use Underground

Water Sources


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

DISCLAIMER .................................................................................................................. 3

How to Dig a Well to Find Water .................................................................................. 4

Types of Wells ............................................................................................................. 6

Dug wells .................................................................................................................. 7

Drilled Wells .............................................................................................................. 7

Driven Wells.............................................................................................................. 8

Things to Meditate Upon before Digging a Well ........................................................... 9

Siting ............................................................................................................................ 9

Digging ....................................................................................................................... 10

The Location ........................................................................................................... 10

The Water System .................................................................................................. 11

The Construction Method ....................................................................................... 11

Testing ....................................................................................................................... 12

Safety Issues ............................................................................................................. 12

7 Smart Tips For Buying A Manual Water Pump ...................................................... 13

1. Fluctuations in the Water Table ............................................................................. 14

2. Geography of Land between the Well and Delivery Site ........................................ 15

3. Water Usage Estimate ........................................................................................... 15

4. Projected Expansions of Water Usage .................................................................. 16

5. Type of Manual Pumps to Buy ............................................................................... 17

6. Other Pumps in the System ................................................................................... 18

7. Underground Well Dug or Drilled ........................................................................... 19


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DISCLAIMER

THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN “How to Find and Use Underground Water Sources” IS

MEANT TO SERVE AS A COMPREHENSIVE COLLECTION OF TIPS THAT THE AUTHORS OF

THIS COURSE LEARN OVER THE YEARS RELATED TO SURVIVAL/PREPAREDNESS.

SUMMARIES, STRATEGIES, TIPS AND TRICKS INCLUDED IN THIS E-BOOK ARE ONLY

RECOMMENDATIONS BY THE AUTHORS, AND READING THIS E-BOOK DOES NOT

GUARANTEE THAT ONE’S RESULTS WILL EXACTLY MIRROR OUR OWN RESULTS.

THE AUTHOR OF “How to Find and Use Underground Water Sources” HAS MADE ALL

REASONABLE EFFORTS TO PROVIDE CURRENT AND ACCURATE INFORMATION FOR THE

READERS OF THIS COURSE. THE AUTHOR WILL NOT BE HELD LIABLE FOR ANY

UNINTENTIONAL ERRORS OR OMISSIONS THAT MAY BE FOUND.

THE MATERIAL IN “How to Find and Use Underground Water Sources” MAY INCLUDE

INFORMATION, PRODUCTS, OR SERVICES BY THIRD PARTIES. THIRD PARTY MATERIALS

COMPRISE OF THE PRODUCTS AND OPINIONS EXPRESSED BY THEIR OWNERS. AS SUCH,

THE AUTHORS OF THIS GUIDE DO NOT ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY OR LIABILITY FOR ANY

THIRD PARTY MATERIAL OR OPINIONS. THE PUBLICATION OF SUCH THIRD PARTY

MATERIALS DOES NOT CONSTITUTE THE AUTHORS’ GUARANTEE OF ANY INFORMATION,

INSTRUCTION, OPINION, PRODUCTS OR SERVICE CONTAINED WITHIN THE THIRD PARTY

MATERIAL.

WHETHER BECAUSE OF THE GENERAL EVOLUTION OF THE INTERNET, OR THE

UNFORESEEN CHANGES IN COMPANY POLICY AND EDITORIAL SUBMISSION GUIDELINES,

WHAT IS STATED AS FACT AT THE TIME OF THIS WRITING, MAY BECOME OUTDATED OR

SIMPLY INAPPLICABLE AT A LATER DATE. THIS MAY APPLY TO THE “How to Find and Use

Underground Water Sources” AS WELL AS THE VARIOUS SIMILAR COMPANIES THAT WE

HAVE REFERENCED IN THIS EBOOK.

GREAT EFFORT HAS BEEN EXERTED TO SAFEGUARD THE ACCURACY OF THIS WRITING.

OPINIONS REGARDING SIMILAR WEBSITE PLATFORMS HAVE BEEN FORMULATED AS A

RESULT OF BOTH PERSONAL EXPERIENCE, AS WELL AS THE WELL DOCUMENTED

EXPERIENCES OF OTHERS.

NO PART OF THIS PUBLICATION SHALL BE REPRODUCED, TRANSMITTED OR RESOLD IN

WHOLE OR IN PART IN ANY FORM, WITHOUT THE PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT OF THE

AUTHORS. ALL TRADEMARKS AND REGISTERED TRADEMARKS APPEARING IN “How to Find

and Use Underground Water Sources” ARE THE PROPERTY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE

OWNER. ANY AND ALL REQUESTS FOR SUCH PERMISSION SHOULD BE SENT BY TO

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COPYRIGHT 2015 SurvivopediaTM, How to Find and Use Underground Water Sources


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How to Dig a Well to Find Water

Let’s begin with some hard facts: about 97% of our fresh water supply lays hidden

beneath the Earth’s surface in underground aquifers and there are over fifteen million

water wells in America.

People dig wells because a fresh and clean water supply is one of the most important

things to have, especially in a survival situation. We’re basically made of water plus a

few minerals and the fact that we can’t survive without water for more than a few days is

common science.

Even if it doesn’t come to a survival scenario, having your own water supply means that

you’re basically off the grid. You’re not dependent upon third parties and that’s

awesome in my book. All these things considered, learning how to dig a well to find

water is a good lesson for every prepper to learn.


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Most wells are about 200 feet deep and they’re usually made with specialized drilling

equipment. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

When it comes to groundwater exploration, you must know that excess rainwater

infiltrates the soil and tends to accumulate beneath the earth’s surface in aquifers,

which are zones of water saturation.

Hence, a well is simply a hole dug into the respective aquifer, from which a certain

portion can be pumped out and used for irrigation, to water your livestock, domestic

purposes and what not.

Finding the Underground Water Sources

Before digging a well, you need to know where the water is. A pretty straightforward

indicator of a shallow aquifer is that spot on your property that has green grass during

the driest part of the year.

In certain countries and cultures finding a water source has become a skill passed on

from one generation to another, by village wise men or women to their successors.

These “dowsers” have the ability to investigate and determine the presence of a water

source or channel and we think it’s needless to say how much of a difference such a

skill can make in a post-SHTF scenario.

The technique consist in using a forked or Y-shaped twig or a metal rod that you

position either between your middle and ring fingers, palms facing upwards if it’s a twig,

or hold the L shaped rods in your hands loosely.

While criss-crossing the area where you would like to find your water source you should

observe a twitch of the stick or a downward/crossing movement of the rods in the place

where water is supposed to be found.

The rods used in order to find water using the dowsing technique are:

Y-shaped or V-shaped twig


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Metal rods

Parallel rods

The Hartmann lobe

The Lecher antenna

If you want to give it a go, you must

hold the Y-shaped stick between you

middle and ring fingers, palms facing

upward.

If you are using metal rods hold them

parallel, between your fingers. When

reaching a place where a

groundwater source is significant, the

Y-shaped stick should twitch and the

rods should cross over one another.

However this method does have a couple of disadvantages: the findings are imprecise,

and do not indicate the quantity of water found, and it does not find smaller and deeper

groundwater flows.

The modern methods consist from Topography and Hydrogeophysics. While

topography makes use of maps and even satellite images to analyze regions of interest

in order to determine if water might be present, hydrogeophysics uses geophysical

methods as the main methods of investigation and detection of underground aquifers.

But it would be much easier to contact The American Society of Dowsers and ask for

their expertise in order to find the perfect spot for your endeavor.

Types of Wells

To begin with, there are basically three commonly used types of wells:

http://dowsers.org/


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Dug wells

They are known by human kind for thousands of years and still around in lots of remote

locations. You probably know what these are – those old school wells protected by tiny

roofs, sporting a bucket hanging from a crank. That’s a dug well.

You can dig a well using elbow grease and shovels (the hard way) or with specialized

drilling equipment, such as power tools (hello 21st century!). Either way, these wells are

generally shallow and not very expensive to drill.

For best results, dug wells must be lined on the top part. This is referred to as casing

of the hole. You simply line the top of the well with impermeable materials (usually

bricks, stone masonry or concrete) to keep surface water from infiltrating/contaminating

the well.

The casing also prevents the hole from caving in in some types of rock formations. Dug

wells work on a basic principle: find an aquifer close to the surface of the Earth and dig

a hole below the water level, allowing the water to fill the bottom of the hole and voila,

you got yourself a water source!

Drilled Wells

Drilled wells are the most common nowadays and they’re basically deep, narrow shafts

drilled into the ground using a machine or even manual drilling equipment. Drilled wells

can go very deep into the ground – up to 3,000 feet or so – and at ground level all you

can see is the end of the pipe sticking out.

This type of well usually sucks water from more than one aquifer and when you’re

drilling, the rule of thumb is to ignore the first aquifer that you hit and go for the deeper

ones, with better flow and purer water.


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Driven Wells

As the name suggests, driven wells consist of a special perforated pipe that is pounded

into the ground until it reaches an aquifer. They are not commonly used, but they’re not

unheard of either.

Driven wells are an option when the top aquifer is shallow and they come with the

obvious advantage of not requiring a casing, unlike dug wells.

All driven wells must be driven with care and the couplings must be tightened often. A

good well point and heavy duty well couplings should be used. The well must be

developed by flushing the screen several times to classify the gravel around the screen.

I use a pitcher pump and prime it and drop the water back down the well forcefully

several times.


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Things to Meditate Upon before Digging a Well

There are three important steps or procedures to follow for optimum results in well-

digging: siting, drilling and testing the well.

Siting

Siting refers to the process of groundwater exploration itself, which should be as

scientific as possible.

Basically, any hole dug deep enough in the ground will provide you with some water, at

least at the beginning, but the amount of water resulting from a randomly dug hole can

be insufficient.

Low-yield wells may be enough for drinking, but if you dig a well for irrigation purposes,

that’s another matter. There are scientific methods for finding the best spots for high-

yield wells and generally speaking, high-yield wells are those that penetrate a fractured

rock zone.

The procedure for finding the fracture spots can be expensive, but anyway, it would be

a good idea to confer with an expert about the availability and also reliability of local

aquifers before starting investing in drilling or digging equipment.

A good start would be to consult with your local state geological survey office about the

potential sweet spots on your property, i.e. if you have suitable conditions for building a

well on your land.


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Digging

The Location

The first step in digging yourself a well is to find the optimal location, the “sweet spot”

as drillers say.

The respective spot should be away from buried fuel tanks (at least 50 feet away),

septic systems (the same), pastures (100 feet away), barnyards, cesspools, basically

anything that has the potential of polluting the aquifer (and at least 5 feet away from

building sites).

You should avoid digging wells where the groundwater appears within ten feet of the

Earth’s surface as well.

Here is a warning that you need to be really careful around springs. If you have a good

spring, you can accidentally dry it up by digging a well through the aquifer that feeds it.

If you puncture a hole in the rock that seals the layer producing the spring, you can

potentially drain the aquifer and you may or may not end up with a good well in the end.

Also, the forest around a spring should never be logged, as this will threaten the flow of

the underground water that is funneled to the spring.

You should also check with your local building department because depending on your

location, you may require a building permit and also you must meet certain construction

standards.

It’s a good idea to contact your utility company too to make sure that you don’t start

digging holes on top of gas pipes and the like.

After you find the proper location, go dig a test well in the “sweet spot”. See how deep

you must go to hit water and try to measure the fill rate. Depending on your water needs

and the fill rate, you’ll decide if you’ll dig the well in the respective location or not.


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The Water System

Also, you should determine what water system equipment you require for providing you

with a reliable supply of water from the well.

By water system, I mean the following: pumps, filters and tubing, along with a tank or

cistern for water storage. All these must be calculated to meet your specific demands.

Also, you must test the quality of the water before starting digging, as it may be polluted

or contaminated with chemicals, sediment, bacteria or other yuck.

It is very important to properly determine the yield of your well and its flow-rate; if you

install a water pump with a pumping rate that exceeds the flow rate and yield of the

respective well, the pump will run dry and it will get damaged or wear out quickly.

The Construction Method

Choosing the most appropriate construction method is the next step. Keep in mind that

using a specialized contractor could turn up to be the best solution both in terms of

efficiency and time saving but also it will help a lot with the paperwork I’ve mentioned

above.

Since most wells are drilled, not dug or driven, the prices for drilled wells are pretty

affordable considering the results and they might come with lots of benefits.

If you’ve already decided to DIY,start planning how to dig your own well using standard

equipment, which is easily available at Home Depot, thus saving money in the process.

You also have to know your area soil content. If it's mostly sand below the few inches of

topsoil, then don't waste your time on a DIY project like this video started with drilling it

because it will always keep collapsing especially if it is not an area with a lot of rain.

Start out with a sand point after the first few feet of auger work.

You can also rent an impact/compactor which is like a jack hammer only with a flat end

instead of a spike. Then you can stand on your elevated bench/ladder/scaffold and it


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goes down pretty fast--until you hit a rock, like this guy did! I've seen a couple guys

pound a 20 foot well in a couple hours that way.

All sand points are also 'not created equal'. If you are serious, don't waste your time by

being cheap. Get the best heavy duty point.

Testing

After the well was dug or drilled and casing is installed, as final preparation you should

pump it dry a couple of times and let it refill. This way you’ll get all the impurities

resulting from the drilling process out.

The procedure is called surge pumping or developing the well. A properly developed

well will have better yield long-term and purer water.

Safety Issues

Also, remember about dug well safety, i.e. building a brick wall around your well to

prevent accidents and improve sanitation. Children or animals may fall into the well and

the surrounding wall prevents surface run-off from getting inside.

One important thing to remember if you are hand-digging a well is to be sure there is air

flow. Hanging a tarp in the middle can generate air currents so that the carbon dioxide

does not build up and suffocate the diggers.

And remember that you should never ever dig a square well. They MUST be round

otherwise they will cave in.

Having your own well on your property is a good idea even if you just want fresh, clean

water that isn’t full of fluoride and chlorine like city water is. If SHTF, you’ll have one

major problem already solved.


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Smart Tips For Buying A Manual

Water Pump

Most off-gridders that have secured land or are planning to set up their own homestead

have already given some thought to generating power and ensuring a steady supply of

water.

Unfortunately, many people stop at buying an electric pump or simply figure that they

can rely on ponds or other natural water features found on the property.

Without having manual water pumps on hand, you will set yourself up for a water crisis

regardless of what is going on in the rest of society. If civilization collapses, you may not

be able to obtain or build a manual pump in time to resolve your problems.


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Taking time now to find the best manual pump will be of immense benefit for you, your

family, and any livestock that may depend on the water from a well or other

underground water source.

1. Fluctuations in the Water Table

If you have never lived far away from city or town water, then you may not realize hows

quickly the water table can fluctuate in your local area.

Most people that decide to use manual pumps also do not dig or drill deep enough wells

to ensure a steady supply of water all year round.

Before buying a manual pump, make sure that you know as much as possible about the

routine water table fluctuations in the area where you will be maintaining a well.

You can gain information from local geological surveys for the state and county, or try

using this U.S. Geological Survey - HTTP://WATER.USGS.GOV/OGW/BASICS.HTML#WL to

find out more about data they have gathered about wells in the area.

http://water.usgs.gov/ogw/basics.html#wl


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It is also very important to consider the potential for seasonal pollutants that may cause

shallow wells to be useless. This includes:

Pesticide and herbicide runoff from nearby farms or other installations,

Salt contamination from rising ocean levels,

Pathogen contamination from old septic systems or new ones that are too close

to underground water pathways,

Increased water usage up the line from your well by other settlers or larger

communities that place increased pressure on aquifers and other underground

water sources.

2. Geography of Land between the Well and Delivery

Site

Consider a situation where you found a valley like impression with plenty of access to a

high water table. At the same time, you decided to locate your main residence and

livestock up on a hill.

Needless to say, you will not be happy with lugging buckets of water up a hill each day

for yourself, your family, and the livestock.

On the other hand, even if you buy a solar or wind powered manual pump, it will still be

much harder to move the water to your home on a regular basis.

In this scenario, you would be much better served by using a ram pump as opposed to

a more conventional pump with a handle on it.

3. Water Usage Estimate

When calculating water usage for survival needs, never take a chance and hope that

water from a nearby pond or other resource can be used on a routine basis. Aside from


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the risks posed by droughts, pollutants and fallout from various warfare agents can

leave you without water.

During the process of buying a manual pump, make sure that you choose a model that

will enable to gather enough water each day for all your needs. This includes water for

livestock and any seasonal increases in water needs.

The last thing you will want to do is have a manual pump on hand that only allows you

to retrieve 30 gallons per day when you actually need over 300.

Remember that disease risk, animal loss, or other resources destroyed because of

insufficient water may not be buyable after social collapse.

Overestimating water needs and buying a suitable manual pump to meet that demand

will be well worth the effort. In this instance, you may want to focus on pumps that can

be driven by a windmill or even animals harnessed to some type of torque delivery

system.

There are also solar powered manual pumps that may be of interest if you have enough

sunlight in the area surrounding the well.

4. Projected Expansions of Water Usage

As time goes by, you are bound to find an increased need for water. For example, as

survivors begin to network again, people will marry, have children, and engage in other

activities that require increasing amounts of water.

Needless to say, as you become more confident as a homesteader, increasing food

production and expanding livestock herds will also require more water.

Once you know your current water needs, double, or even triple that amount as your

projection for the next 10 to 20 years. In many cases, you may find that you need to

purchase multiple manual pumps and then have several wells set aside as reserve for

the future.


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At the very least, if you are ready for expansion, you will also be more prepared for any

emergency that takes out your main well, or makes it impossible to use the pump

attached to it.

5. Type of Manual Pumps to Buy

There are basically two types of manual pumps to choose from.

The first type is a conventional hand driven pump. You can purchase or adapt

models that have different handles to accommodate everything from windmills to

animals harnessed in a ring.

These pumps are best used in areas where temperatures go below freezing. Since they

are durable and do not require priming, you can always rely on having a steady supply

of water on hand.


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When purchasing a hand driven pump, keep in mind that there are two types. The first

is a shallow well pump that will not deliver water if the table drops below 20 to 40 feet.

While these pumps will provide decades of service, simply extending the pipe deeper

into the well will not be of any use.

If the water table in the area drops below 20 feet, you will be well served by purchasing

a hand pump that will pull water up from 125 – 300 feet down.

If you are going to pump water from a pond, or even an underground dug well, a ram

pump may be of interest. These pumps are especially useful if you need to deliver

water through pipes to a location up on a hill.

Even though these pumps require far less work than a hand pump, they also need to be

primed if freezing or something else causes the pump to stop.

Make sure that you know how much water is required to get the pump started in an

emergency, and always keep that amount on hand for that purpose.

6. Other Pumps in the System

Are you planning to only have a few people and animals living on the homestead? If you

do the math, you will soon realize that even two people and a few chickens can use

quite a lot of water. Under these circumstances, you will most likely have at least one

electrical pump for primary usage.

Depending on the situation, you may not want to remove the electric pump from the

well, let alone go through the hassle of drilling another well just so you can use a

manual water pump.

Many of the newer manual water pumps are designed to work right alongside an electric

pump. Choosing these models and installing them now can save you a good bit of time

and frustration when an emergency arises.


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When combined with alternative power options, you may even decide to switch between

the two systems on a routine basis in order to take advantage of other power sources.

7. Underground Well Dug or Drilled

No matter how hard you try to be 110% prepared for an emergency, there may come a

time when you will need to dig a new well. If you do not have drilling equipment

available, the landscape of the well itself will be very different.

In some cases, hand pumps may not be able to pull water effectively from a hand dug

well. Therefore, you should choose at least one pump that can operate in this type of

well, and then simply keep it on hand for use as the need arises.

Alternatively, you can choose manual pumps that will work in either well type.

On the surface, manual water pumps look very simple and easy to buy. As you do more

research, you are likely to find that simply buying the cheapest model hand pump or

ram pump will not be of much use in a crisis situation.

Taking the time now to calculate estimated water needs and learning about

underground water features will be of immense benefit.

At the very least, you will have a better chance of choosing the right manual pump to

meet a wide range of survival needs instead of one that simply takes up space and will

fail to deliver water when you need it most.

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