THE HOUSE AND ITS EQUIPMENT. 



WATER SUPPLY FOR COUNTRY HOUSES 



Geological Basis of the Problem The Mischievous &quot; Dug &quot; Well Outputs of Typical Tube-wells 

 The Question of Pumping Various Methods Contrasted Cost of Wells Quality of Water 



Supplied. 



HOW common it is to find the provision of water for a new house to be the last item to enter into 

 a man s calculations ! And yet how very costly may be such a provision. A whole village 

 may be amply supplied from the smallest well it is possible to put down in a given district. 

 Less than this one well cannot be made to serve a single house. Thus it is that the expense 

 of supplying water for ten people may be as great as of that required to supply two hundred. 

 Clearly, water supply deserves special attention. It should form the first study when a new house is 

 proposed. When a house already exists, there is nothing to do but to make the best of existing conditions. 

 All water comes from the clouds. How may it best be conserved ? Is reliance to be placed on natural 

 or on artificial springs an artificial spring being a well which may or may not yield a supply that will 

 overflow the surface ? The question of water supply is closely connected with that of geology, and a 

 study of geology is essential to a sound practice in supplying water. Trje rocks which form the crust of 

 the earth appear to have been deposited in water as sand or mud or mixed gravel and clay, in an 

 approximately horizontal plane. These different materials have become hardened by pressure, and 

 ultimately, by reason of shrinkage or movements of the earth s crust, they have been thrown into 

 inclined positions, bent, and variously contorted as shown in Fig. 108, so that to-day we walk over the 



edges o f m a n y 

 rocks of v e r y 

 different ages, and 

 by constant study 

 we are able to 

 unravel the torn 

 a n d c r u m p 1 e d 

 pages of the book 

 of Nature. Thus 

 we know by study 

 and knowledge of 

 the rocks that, if 

 we dig a well 

 at W into the 



clay C, we shall find water in the sandstone rock S, which geology tells us lies next below this 

 clay C. We know that the exposed edge of the rock S lies higher than the site of the well. A map 

 of the elevations of the country-side shows us no exposed surface of the rock S at a lower elevation 

 than is the earth s surface at the site of the well W. From this we argue that rain which falls on the 

 surface at S will sink into the porous rock and make its way under the clay rock above, and will fill up the 

 whole of the rock S unless there is some escape for it. From all this comes confidence that a well put down 

 at W will overflow the surface, or, if the conditions are somewhat different, and copious springs are found 

 issuing from the sand rock at some spot not too far removed from W , then we may know that the water 

 in the well will not rise much above the level of that drainage point. Such a lower drainage point might 

 be furnished by some lateral valley extending through the stratum C and draining off the water down 

 to the level d. This is a simple case. In practice much more complication is usually encountered ; but 

 each case must stand by itself and is only to be solved by local study. 



Generally in England the surface consists of alternate outcroppings of sandy or &quot; clayey &quot; rocks, 

 into or through which a well may be bored to obtain water. There are three ordinary types of well : 

 first, the old-fashioned dug well,. often dangerous by reason of dirty surface water which may get into it 

 from polluted surface soils, the drainage of which creeps down behind the lining of the well and finally enters 

 it. Animals, like rats, mav fall into a well. A user may employ a dirty pail in which to draw water from 

 a well , and a well-cover is sometimes a favourite roosting-place for fowls. The dug well is named so that 

 it may be condemned. It should never be employed if it is possible to avoid doing so. In many localities 

 the surface earth is largely composed of beds of sand or gravel. These deposits are frequently glacial. 

 They are good water-bearing beds, and if not too near dwellings, and away from the influence of cesspools 



