No. 4.] 



FARM WATER SUPPLIES. 



171 



the State to-day furnishing large supplies of excellent water for 

 cities and towns, farms, institutions and industrial plants. Most 

 of these systems consist of a number of 2V2-inch wells connected 

 to suction pipes of ample size to take care of the volume of water 

 to be handled. They are connected in a way to produce the least 

 possible friction, and the water from the main suction i^asses through 

 a sand and air separator, thence to the pumping engine. 



The most notable of the driven-well systems in Massachusetts is 

 the municipal water supply plant at Lowell, where 5,500,000 gallons 

 of water per day are pumped from wells of this tj^pe. In many 



Flowi 



;u Kingston, Mass., 40 feet deep. 



farming districts of the State it is possible to obtain abundant and 

 permanent water supplies by this method. 



The glacial deposits which overlie the bed rock throughout the 

 State are variable in character. Wherever this deposit is clay or 

 hardpan the driven well system is impracticable, but there is the 

 deep drilled well to resort to. In sinking these wells an outer casing 

 is driven down by steam power until rock is encountered. Upon 

 striking the bed rock a hole of approximately the same diameter as 

 the casing is drilled into it for several feet, and then gradually 

 tapered down to . the proper diameter to receive a smaller casing. 

 This inner pipe constitutes the permanent well casing, and is firmly 

 driven into the tapered hole, effectively shutting out the earth forma- 

 tion above the ledge. From this point the drilling is confined en- 

 tirely to the bed rock. This bed rock in Massachusetts, like the 

 glacial deposits, is variable in character, but is for the most part 

 seamy, and these seams or fissures are water-bearing. In drilling. 



