Water Well Basics

There are approximately 100,000 domestic water wells in New Brunswick. The two main types of
wells found are drilled wells and the less common dug well. Historically, dug wells were dug by hand
but today, they are usually dug with the use of a back hoe. Because they are shallow, dug wells are
more vulnerable to contamination and to drying up during periods of drought therefore most of the
wells we see today are drilled wells. One of the ways to identify the type of well you have is to look at
the outer casing and the cover that can be seen at ground level (See below). Older drilled wells may
be buried underground which makes them more vulnerable to potential sources of contamination via
surface water infiltration. If your well head is buried, you should have it extended to 18 inches above
ground by a licensed well driller and make sure it is fitted with a watertight, vermin proof cap. It is now
illegal to burry a well head.

Drilled Wells:

Casing on drilled domestic wells generally have a diameter of 4–8 in (most commonly 6 inches
in newer wells)

A drilled well consists of a hole bored into the ground, with the upper part being lined with casing. The
casing prevents the collapse of the borehole walls and (with a drive shoe or grout seal) to prevent
surface or subsurface contaminants from entering the water supply and a well screen is placed at the
bottom of the well to prevent inflow of sediment into the pump. The casing also provides housing for a
pumping mechanism and for the pipe that moves water from the pump to the surface.

Drilled wells are constructed by either percussion or rotary-drilling machines. A well that is
constructed with a rotary drilling machine incorporates the use of circulating drilling fluid or
compressed air to remove drill cuttings from the well hole. To serve as a water supply, a drilled well
must intersect bedrock fractures containing ground water.

Most modern wells are drilled, which requires a fairly complicated and expensive drill rig. Drill rigs are
often mounted on big trucks. They use rotary drill bits that chew away at the rock, percussion bits that
smash the rock, or, if the ground is soft, large auger bits. Drilled wells can be drilled more than 1,000
feet deep but domestic wells are usually between 100-200 feet in depth and 6 inches in diameter.
Often a pump is placed near the bottom to push water up to the surface.
 Diagram: Drilled well in sand or gravel aquifer Diagram: Drilled well in bedrock aquifer

Dug wells:

Casing on dug wells generally have a diameter of 60–120 cm (24–48 in)

Dug wells are holes in the ground dug by shovel or backhoe. Historically, a dug well was excavated
below the groundwater table until incoming water exceeded the digger’s bailing rate. The well was
then lined (cased) with stones, brick, tile, or other material to prevent collapse. It was covered with a
cap of wood, stone, or concrete. Today, there are specific requirements for casing materials. For
more information on the construction requirements of a dug well, please see the Water Well
Regulation. Since it’s so difficult to dig beneath the ground water table, dug wells are not very deep.
Typically, they are only 10 to 30 feet deep and 1 meter in diameter. Being so shallow, dug wells have
the highest risk of becoming contaminated and they often go dry during periods of drought if the water
table becomes lower than the depth of the well.
 Diagram: example of a dug well

Sandpoint Wells: Sand-point or driven-point wells consist of a small-diameter casing ranging in size
from 2.5-5 cm (1-2 in.). Sand-point wells are constructed in sand and gravel aquifers and are either
driven or jetted (inserted using high-pressure water) into the ground. Sand-point wells are usually only
installed where the aquifer has a shallow water table and the ground is of sandy composition. They
are normally no deeper than 25 feet. The diagram below shows the construction of a typical sand-
point well. Because of the type of construction (driven or jetted into place) and the type of aquifer
(unconfined, shallow, sand or gravel), sand-point wells are considered highly vulnerable to
contamination. Contaminants on the ground surface have only a short distance to travel before
reaching the water table and the well inlet.

Diagram: example of a sandpoint well

In ordinary conversation, people often mis-use the term artesian well. Deep wells drilled into rock to
intersect the water table and reaching far below it are often called artesian wells but this is not a
correct use of the term. Great depth alone does not necessarily make a well artesian.
The correct definition of an artesian well is: a well that is drilled through impermeable strata into strata
that receives water from a higher altitude so there is pressure to force the water to flow upward. If the
water level rises above ground level, the well is referred to as a flowing artesian well. Artesian
pressure can be mild resulting in a slight trickle of water rising above the well head or it can be very
strong resulting in a geyser of water shooting upwards. Flowing artesian wells can result in the
wasting of the water resource since much of the overflowing water likely runs off and therefore does
not make it back into the aquifer of origin. For water conservation purposes, it is required as per the
Water Well Regulation – Clean Water Act that the flow be controlled by a device approved by the
Minister of Environment. If you would like more information on how to control a flowing artesian well,
please contact your local office of the Department of Environment.

Diagram: example of a flowing artesian well