53 
part ' 2 .] Blanford: Water-bearing strata, Surat. 
Balkrishna, the Secretary to the Municipality, to whom I am indebted for most of the 
details mentioned. 
Surat is a large town, with a population exceeding one hundred thousand. As in most 
old cities, the surface has been greatly raised in places by the accumulation of ruins of build¬ 
ings and rubbish of all kinds. The town stands on the bank of the Tapti, here a tidal 
river, the water of which is sweet in the rainy season, but brackish at other times, and 
especially so in the hot weather. 
There are in Surat numerous wells, one to nearly every house. The water of only 
two or three of these is used for drinking purposes ; nearly the whole of the inhabitants 
obtain their drinking water from the river, from cisterns in which rain -water is collected, 
or from wells outside the town. The depth of the wells inside the town varies from about 
30 to about 70 feet, and the height at which the water stands in the wells above the datum 
to which all levels within tho municipal limits are referred (100 feet below a fixed mark 
in the castle) varies in different wells from 50 to nearly 70 feet. As a general rule, 
the wells inside Surat city contain very brackish water; those outside the city proper, hut 
within the old walls, vary in quality, a few being just drinkable, whilst outside the walls 
there are some wells of so called sweet water. This last, however, though far purer than 
that obtained from the wells inside the city, is decidedly more brackish than good drinking 
water should he, and on testing it, it was found to contain lime, magnesia, and other im¬ 
purities in considerable quantity besides common salt. The same remark applies to those 
wells inside the city which contain drinkable water. 
The latter are only two in number: one in the castle and close to the river bank, the other 
at the house of a Mabaraj named Mandir. The former very probably derives its supply 
from percolation from the river -when in flood,* another well not 100 yards away, hut farther 
from the river, yielding brackish water. The well in Maharaj Mandir’s house is rather 
deeper than usual, the bottom of the well being 48 feet, and the surface level of the water 
56 above datum, and the supply is so large that an attempt to pump the well dry by a 
6-horse power steam-engine scarcely produced any sensible diminution of the water level. 
At the same time other wells nearly of the same depth contain brackish water. 
Two other incidents connected with the Surat wells may be here mentioned. The first 
is that there is a well in the public park used for watering the gardens : it is 63 feet deep, 
and contains, when full, 35 feet of water, the surface of the water being about 65 feet above 
datum. The supply is considerable, hut the water can be pumped dry by a 8-horsepower 
engine in 3 hours, and requires 24 hours to refill. After pumping for a short time the water 
improves, but when the well is left to refill it becomes brackish again. Another well, not 
50 yards distant, contains very brackish water. The supply is, I believe, less than in the 
other well, but I have no certain information. 
Another circumstance worthy of note is referred to by Mr. Hope in his letter No. 2280 
of 1871. A well was sunk at the Surat race-course about half a mile outside the city walls, 
at a spot in tho middle of four existing wells, none of which are more than 150 yards apart. 
All these wells are comparatively sweet, certainly much better than any well inside the town 
of Surat, yet Mr. Hope’s well proved brackish. In this case I think it is to be regretted 
that the well was not pumped for some time before being abandoned, since the salt may have 
been derived from the sides of the well and pumping might have caused an inflow from the 
stratum which supplies the other wells, but the saltness may have been due to the water 
finding its way into the well by a different channel to that pursued by the flood supplying 
the others. 
* The statement in a report by Mr. Sowerby on the water-supply, &c., of Surat, dated 7th N ovember 1868, that, 
the level of the water in the Surat wells is above that of high spring tides in the Tapti, appears to he incorrect. 
