Is there such a thing as well water? Spring and well water

Having a well, you don’t have to worry about the constant availability of clean and fresh water, even if it is possible to get it from a centralized system. Every homeowner would prefer to connect water from a well to the in-house network, if only because it is guaranteed to be cleaner and healthier and is not turned off at the whim of the supplier.

What should a well be like?

In order to be able to organize water supply for a country house with well water, this structure must meet certain requirements.

Requirements for water composition

To ensure a comfortable existence and not carry water in a bucket, you need to equip the well with a pump that will lift it and supply it to the pipes. But taking water from a well in this way is only possible if its composition meets certain standards.

So:

The water should not contain coarse mechanical impurities (sand), otherwise expensive water-lifting equipment will quickly fail;

Note. There are pumps capable of pumping water with a certain amount of impurities (maximum value - 180 g/m3). Before purchasing, you should do a water analysis to make sure that the pump is designed to handle pumping water.

It must be suitable for drinking at least after passing through a system of filters installed in front of water points.

A bottom filter placed at the bottom of the well will help get rid of sand in the water. It’s more difficult with impurities dissolved in it.

It is necessary to conduct an examination to determine the quality of water and design a water treatment system designed to filter it, reduce hardness, and reduce the content of harmful substances.

If bacterial contamination is detected, the well must be cleaned and tested.

In general, if a well is located away from roads, industrial zones and other objects that pollute the soil, the water in it is usually of good quality and does not require special preparation. And its contamination is the result of improper operation of the well.

Important! Do not install toilets, cesspools, compost heaps, garbage dumps, parking lots and other objects near a water source that can cause pollution and contamination of groundwater.

Finally, when constructing a well, it is important to isolate the shaft from surface water entering it. To do this, you need to carefully seal the gaps between the concrete rings with your own hands and build a clay castle around the well.

Water requirements

Before constructing a well, it is impossible to predict how much water it will produce. You can only determine your needs and then correlate them with the actual quantity.

It is not always possible to do this in your favor - it may not be enough. In this case, you can try to deepen it, and if this does not help increase the flow rate, you will have to drill a well to the next aquifer.

Average daily water consumption (30-50 l), multiplied by the number of family members;
Watering the garden, vegetable garden, greenhouse;
Car wash;
Expenses for a bathhouse, sauna, swimming pool;
Expenses for washing, cleaning, other household activities, etc.

Then the obtained data is compared with. It is determined by completely pumping out the water and measuring the time during which it will fill to its previous level.
Automatic water intake from a well is possible if the daily debit is comparable to your needs.

Advice. A slight water deficit can be mitigated by installing a storage tank. At night or on days of inactive water consumption, it will be filled, creating a reserve in case of shortage of water in the well.

Well design requirements

In the world of high technology and space exploration, a simple well of water looks like a relic of past centuries, but for many, water from a well is associated with the “life-giving spring” from fairy tales. Pure fresh water, reaching the well through thick layers of natural, filtering deposits, acquires a crystalline appearance and a rich set of mineral salts.

Food prepared from clean water, tea from a samovar that uses wood chips for heating, a boot with an accordion top for kindling wood chips, are there anyone who would refuse these benefits?

So:

Well translation has many interpretations depending on its purpose. What they have in common is that this is a hydraulic structure for extracting groundwater, made in the form of a well or vertical shafts, with reinforced walls and a mechanism for supplying water to the surface.
This mechanism could be a pump or simply a bucket on a rope.
Water intake wells are intended for irrigation and water supply.
Absorption wells make it possible to replenish groundwater reserves with surface water or waste drainage and clarified sewer water.
Even coastal wells are installed to regulate water intake from reservoirs, rivers, and lakes.

Before you can draw water from a well, you must have one. The owners themselves choose which well to choose and build—a tube well, a key well, or a shaft one; however, it is necessary to take into account the opinion of experts in order to avoid mistakes.

The shaft type of well is torn off with a shovel. The usual size at its largest is 08x1.2 m.
This area is sufficient to accommodate a worker with a tool. The difference with a well lies in the means of obtaining them; if a mine well is dug manually and made larger in size, then drilling rigs are used to obtain a well.
Since the flow of water into a well does not depend on the size of the cross-section of the structure, it is tempting to reduce the size of the shaft, make it with a small diameter and insert a pipe into the hole, creating a tube well.

To choose the right location for a well, you need to consider and know some important points:

Information about the volume and location of the aquifer.
Are there wells in your area, and what is the traditional method of extraction?
The cost of construction and its further maintenance.

The required amount of water required for a household.
What materials are preferable for making a well (concrete, wood, metal pipes, stone).

Attention: The finishing material for wells largely depends on the building materials from which it is constructed.

The simplest type of well, which is also economical, is a key well. It is divided into an ascending spring, when water comes to the surface from underground. At the same time, the water pressure is clearly visible. The downward spring flows by gravity down the hillside without pressure.

The appearance of springs means that the aquifers are shallow and the water is easily contaminated, so it is necessary to have it analyzed in a laboratory to avoid serious health problems.

How to organize water supply from a well

There is a big difference between summer and all-season water supply. Depending on whether you will use well water only in the summer (country house) or all year round (country cottage), you select water-lifting equipment and a diagram for connecting it to the internal water supply.

Pump selection

The pump is selected taking into account the following factors:

Water rise height. For shallow wells operated in the summer, surface injection pumps are most often used. For deep ones - submersible or surface ejector.

Distance from the well to the most distant tap. For every 10 meters there is a loss of pressure corresponding to 1 meter of water column.

Example. If water is lifted from a well from a depth of 10 meters, and the maximum length of the water pipeline is 100 meters, the pump must create a pressure of at least 20 meters (10 + 100:10 = 20).

Performance. This is the volume of water that the pump is capable of pumping per unit of time. It is important that it corresponds to the hydroexchange of the well - its replenishment from underground sources during the pumping process. If the pump pumps out water faster than it is replenished, the idling engine will simply burn out.

Advice. To avoid such situations, install a sensor in the well that turns off the equipment if there is a lack of water.

Installation of water supply

For exclusively summer water consumption, water pipes can be installed above ground, laying them on the ground or raising them to a certain height. In this case, a tap is installed at the lowest point of the system to drain water for the winter.

The second option is underground installation before entering the house. The depth of the trench does not matter.

If you use water all year round, the instructions require that the depth of the distribution pipes be greater than the depth of soil freezing. It can be reduced by using thermal insulation or laying a heating cable in the trench.

Attention! Steel, galvanized and cast iron pipes require protection against corrosion with a special coating. It is better to use pipes made of polymers. They are also more resistant to freezing.

The water supply system from a well is well illustrated by the following diagram.

So:

The pump is lowered into the well and secured with a cable.
When introducing the supply pipe into the well, where it connects to the outlet pipe of the pump, it is necessary to carefully seal the inlet hole in the reinforced concrete ring so that surface water does not leak through it.
A check valve must be installed on the pipe to prevent water from draining from the system into the well. You can put a coarse filter in front of it if the composition of the water requires it.
After the check valve, a fine filter is installed, through which water enters the water-air tank (hydraulic accumulator). It maintains the required pressure in the system and saves time when turning on the pump.
The dispensing unit is equipped with a pressure gauge and pressure switch and is connected to the electrical network.

Next comes the internal wiring. To have hot water, you can install an electric or gas water heater and connect it to the system.

Advice. Provide devices to drain water from the system for repairs or in case of emergency shutdown.

Conclusion

As you can see, having a well with a sufficient amount of drinking water on your site, you can not depend on the centralized water supply. You will not be afraid of sudden shutdowns for an indefinite period, and you will be able to control the quality of the water yourself, excluding the presence of both harmful impurities and excessive amounts of chlorine. The video in this article will help you gain more information and delve deeper into this topic.

Update: October 2018

Water is a unique inorganic substance that determines the possibility of life on earth. It is a universal solvent, the basis for biochemical processes. The uniqueness of water lies in the dissolution of both organic and inorganic substances.

Water accompanies a person from birth to death. Back in school, we were taught that the human body consists of approximately 70% water. Accordingly, without this natural resource, human life is impossible.

What kind of water should you drink?

Water must be physiologically complete for health, that is:

have a natural origin from an underground source;
do not contain artificial additives;
not subject to deep purification by osmosis;
be slightly mineralized (0.5-0.75 g/l).

Only drinking water of natural origin contains all the necessary macro- and microelements. This is the most valuable drink for the body, determining health! For information on how to properly drink water in the morning and what temperature the water should be, see the article

How healthy and safe is drinking water in Russia?

Modern purification and disinfection systems bring the water in our taps to safe levels in terms of microbiological and sanitary-chemical indicators. However, deterioration of the water supply leads to the fact that the water may contain excess iron, chlorine, and even organic substances and bacteria.

If water enters the water supply system from an underground source, this is a big plus. But most large cities receive water from above-ground sources - rivers, reservoirs and lakes. Yes, it reaches our taps after multi-stage purification, but its quality indicators are far from those of artesian water.

Boiled or raw?

Raw water is preferable for the body because it contains trace elements in the form of salts. It has a peculiar structure of arrangement of water molecules. I often call it alive, and for good reason - only such water helps cells regenerate and prevents the formation of free radicals. But it is not recommended to drink raw (unpurified) water due to the risk of harmful bacteria and toxic compounds in it.

Boiled water is not only useless, but also harmful. “Dead water” - some experts call it this frightening phrase:

when boiled, useful salts precipitate into an insoluble precipitate;
oxygen content is significantly reduced;
chlorine contained in tap water, when boiled, turns into toxic compounds leading to urolithiasis and cancer pathology (see);
The structure of water changed as a result of boiling contributes to the fact that within a day this water becomes a favorable environment for the growth of bacteria.

But the issue of water safety does not go away - it is impossible to guarantee that raw water does not contain harmful microorganisms.

If, for safety reasons, you prefer boiled water, let the raw water sit for 2 hours, then boil and turn off the kettle at the very beginning of boiling: such water will be disinfected, and most of the minerals will remain in an accessible state for absorption. Drink only fresh boiled water, do not allow it to be stored or used for a long time.

What kind of raw water do you need and can you drink?

Tap water

This is raw water, purified at the water utility and brought to the requirements of regulatory documents. Not the best option for health. If there is no other option, then you can drink it after pre-treatment in one of the following ways:

boiling with mandatory adherence to the above recommendations;
filtering, which we will discuss below;
allowing to settle for 2 hours and then using only the top half of the liquid. But this method will not protect against germs and toxic substances.

Bottled water

This is raw water, industrially purified, but meeting all safety requirements. It is packaged both in large bottles and in plastic bottles, which are sold in stores. There are first and highest categories.

The first is artificially purified water (tap, from a surface reservoir) using the deep purification method
The highest is water from an artesian well, purified using gentle methods and disinfected with ultraviolet light.

How useful is it? When properly purified, such water is truly healthy and safe; it does not need to be boiled before use. However, manufacturers often skimp on water purification steps, with the result that the product sold is far from what the label promises.

How to choose a reputable manufacturer:

The longer a company is on the market, the more reliable it is;
A reputable manufacturer does not skimp on packaging;
There will always be a popular rumor about good water;
Advice for the most demanding customers - take the purchased water to a special laboratory and check its quality and safety.

Spring water

This is natural water that has undergone natural purification through layers of soil. Each spring is unique. As a rule, such water not only does not contain harmful impurities, but is also enriched with useful minerals as it passes through the soil. Of course, springs located near cities or within their boundaries are of little use. In Russia there are many springs protected by the state, the water from which deservedly belongs to the highest category. These water bodies have official passports and access is limited.

Spring water can also be seen in retail sales - the manufacturer packages it in the same way as bottled water. However, some of them, for the purpose of profit, sell ordinary artesian water, or even tap water, under the guise of spring water. To avoid being deceived, you should follow the recommendations regarding the choice of bottled water. Also, the specific location of water intake must be indicated on the bottle, i.e. spring.

If you take water from a spring yourself, do not forget to do it in a clean container and periodically check the quality of the water in the laboratory.

Mineral water

This is natural water with a high content of microelements and salts from deep layers of soil. Mineralization of water occurs when it passes through soil rocks. Based on salt content, mineral water is divided into:

medicinal (mineralization >8 g/l);
medicinal table (mineralization 1-8 g/l);
dining room (mineralization less than 1 g/l).

Which mineral water is best to drink?

Table mineral water. You can drink table water without any health risks. This water is especially good after prolonged exercise, during the recovery period after poisoning, diarrhea, and acute intestinal infection. But still, you shouldn’t drink it all the time.
Medicinal mineral water can only be prescribed by a doctor in a strict dosage and for a certain period of time. It (like medicines) has both indications and a sufficient list of contraindications for use; it cannot be used without a doctor’s prescription.
Medicinal table mineral water is also prescribed by a doctor, but subsequently the patient himself can take a course of this water.

By the way, only in a few countries do people drink mineral water instead of drinking water without restrictions, including Russia. Well, healthy children under 12 years old should not even be given table mineral water.

Filtered water - harm and benefit

A household filter for water purification can be found in every home. This is an economical way to obtain purified water from regular tap water. There are flow-through filters, which are built into the water supply system, and jug-type filters, i.e. mobile.

Since each filter has its own cleaning base, you should initially analyze the water from your tap to know what exactly needs to be purified from the water (excess chlorine, iron, sulfates, etc.). Filtered water is beneficial if the following points are observed:

correctly selected filter system for a specific problem;
timely replacement of cartridges, and you should not wait for the resource declared by the manufacturer - it is better to reduce this time by half;
periodic examination of water obtained after filtration.

Universal filters

The benefits of such water— They completely purify tap water from impurities, incl. viruses and bacteria. Their work is based on the reverse osmosis mechanism; as a result of purification, only water molecules remain.

Harm - Salt-free or distilled water is not very beneficial for the body, so this filter is used mainly in industrial facilities. With regular consumption of such water, demineralization of the body occurs - water deprived of salts will take them from human organs and tissues. All this threatens diseases of the bone and cardiovascular systems, metabolic disorders and premature aging.

Sophisticated filters are equipped with a system for artificial mineralization of already purified water. The digestibility of salts added artificially to water leaves much to be desired. The best water comes from nature, and artificial additives are a blow to the urinary system and metabolism! The next danger is that carcinogenic chlorine compounds easily penetrate through the membrane back into the water. And this is the risk of developing cancer.

Jug filters

As a rule, water is purified only from specific pollutants. The widespread fashion for jugs that are supposedly suitable for any water is fundamentally wrong. Without a preliminary water analysis, the filter may be useless in your particular case. Microorganisms caught from water can multiply in filter cartridges, contaminating drinking water with sources of infectious diseases.

Is it healthy to drink melt water?

Not long ago, there was a real boom among the population about the benefits of melt water. It is impossible to obtain true melt water at home. This method is comparable to settling - after defrosting, only the upper part of the melt water is used, and the harmful sediment is drained into the sewer. But, alas, not all impurities will end up in this sediment.

Myths about well water

Many people bring drinking water from wells from their relatives living in villages. It is supposedly both tastier and healthier. In fact, well water is the most common source of unsanitary water. In the best case, the content of iron, nitrates and sulfates will go off scale; in the worst case, pathogenic microorganisms will be detected.

Well water is obtained from surface aquifers that are most susceptible to contamination by wastewater. Rainwater also often ends up in wells, contributing to pollution. For those who still doubt it, we note that when cleaning wells, the remains of animal corpses, empty bottles and other garbage are often found at the bottom - obviously additives that are not healthy for health.

What kind of water should I give to children?

Children under 3 years of age should use bottled water of the highest category for drinking and cooking, after boiling it in accordance with the boiling rules. Children over 3 years old can already drink bottled water of the highest category without boiling, but by reducing the shelf life of an open bottle by half.

But many doctors consider these restrictions to be somewhat excessive and advise parents to give their children proven, clean water without boiling after a year. As for special baby water, as a rule, it contains very few minerals (0.2-0.3 g/l), which means it will wash salts out of the body.

It is no secret that there are still settlements in which the only source of water is wells. Since ancient times, well water has been considered a source of high-quality water that promotes health and protects against various diseases.

But today, not all wells meet water quality requirements; in some, the water is not safe for health. Adverse external influences may well turn well water into a breeding ground for harmful bacteria. And in order to make sure that it is safe to use well water, you need to do a laboratory analysis, and after making sure that the results of the water analysis meet the standards, you can use it for drinking and cooking.

Benefit or harm from water from a well.

Many owners of country real estate, having a centralized water supply to their home, often dig a well on their property in order to have crystal clear water saturated with useful minerals in their home for drinking. Water enters the well, as a rule, from the upper, not very deep aquifer layers. Today, you can only find a well with ideal crystal clear water far from industrial centers, since industrial enterprises and unfavorable ecology have contributed their negative factors. But despite all these influences, well water differs from tap water in that it contains many useful minerals necessary for our body. And if the water from the well meets the standards, then a glass of water from the well in the morning is the best start to the day.

In addition to its beneficial properties, it is not uncommon for surface water entering a well to become dangerous. The upper layers of the aquifer may contain nitrates, pesticides, and organic impurities that penetrate into the aquifer during rains or melting snow, which enter the well and then into our body. Over the course of a year, the quality of water in a well can change dramatically, depending on the season, so there is no guarantee that if a positive water analysis is obtained, the quality of the water will remain the same after six months and it can be consumed without harm to your health.

What affects the quality of water in a well.

A person gets used to everything he uses in everyday life. In the same way, we get used to the quality of water and gradually stop paying attention to extraneous tastes and odors of water. Even if the taste or smell of water does not cause negative sensations, this does not always mean that the water is safe and suitable for drinking without additional water treatment. Even if your area where the well is located is very far from industrial centers that affect the environment, nature itself often makes adjustments to the quality of well water. The surface layers may be rich in iron and manganese compounds. A large amount of them in water cannot bring any benefit to the human body, but only harm. Water quality requirements for iron content should not exceed 0.3 mg/l, manganese not more than 0.1 mg/l. Increased iron content in water can negatively affect humans. It can cause allergies and dry skin. Manganese also, in high concentrations in water, has an unpleasant aftertaste and leaves a black coating on the nails, not to mention drinking such water.

Agriculture makes an adverse contribution to environmental destruction. It's no secret that agricultural lands everywhere use not only fertilizers, but also toxic chemicals, which enter the well with water through groundwater and can cause irreparable harm to human health. Industrial enterprises do not remain aloof from the negative impact on surface waters, which sometimes practically do not engage in wastewater treatment, disposal of their production waste, and sometimes discharge their waste directly into the ground or into water bodies. Naturally, in such areas, the water in the wells is completely unsuitable for drinking and is very dangerous to health.

The quality of well water is affected by the melting of snow in the spring; during intense flooding, the chemical composition of the water in the well changes significantly, usually not for the better. Therefore, in the spring, when there is a significant risk of various contaminants getting into the well with melt water, it is recommended to use this water for drinking only after it has been pre-cleaned with filters. The winter-spring period is much more dangerous for well water than other seasons of the year, because when the snow melts along with the water, all the harmful substances that have accumulated throughout the winter penetrate into the soil. Their concentration in water during this period is maximum.

How can you clean a well?

Before you start cleaning the well, so that the water from the well becomes of better quality and becomes suitable for drinking, you need to do a laboratory analysis of the water. Knowing the composition of water, you can choose the right filter for water purification. An important issue is maintaining the well in proper quality. In order for the well to serve as long as possible and delight its owners with the presence of good water, it is necessary to periodically clean it, which includes several stages of work:

Complete pumping of water from the well.

Cleaning the bottom and walls of the well from dirt and sediment.

Providing proper drainage.

Complete disinfection of the internal surfaces of the well.

Repeated pumping of the second water.

Filling the well with fresh water.

The most important step in these activities is the arrangement of the drainage system of the well, as it performs the function of water filtration. To arrange drainage, large stone chips are used, and ideally, it is better to use silicon, then you can drink water from the well without fear for your health. It is advisable to entrust these well cleaning work to specialized specialists, as well as the selection of the necessary filters for water treatment and entrust their installation to specialists.

Since ancient times, the well was treated with respect, and the water from it was elevated to the category of sacred. According to the healers of that time, it had healing properties and was often used in the treatment of various diseases. They often went to the springs with prayers, dedicated songs to them and made up legends about them. It is still generally accepted that water from a well is very useful.

Clean fresh water is the basis of all our lives

To provide your home with clean water, you can equip a solid and high-quality well that will serve you for many years. The Three Wells company provides turnkey well construction, as well as repair and cleaning of old clogged wells, to provide you with a crystal clear source of water from the depths of nature.

Well water is a priceless gift from nature

Water from a well passes through the natural system through several layers of soil, in each of which it is cleaned of harmful impurities and saturated with minerals and salts beneficial to the body. It is believed that if you drink a glass of this water before meals, you can prolong your youth and improve your health.

However, before drinking well water, it is necessary to ensure its quality and purity, for which special laboratory tests are carried out.

Is water from an underground source always beneficial?

Unfortunately, modern human activity has led to significant pollution of nature. Therefore, water from a well can not only be beneficial, but also harmful. This is due to the ingress of various household waste into groundwater. Moisture from a well can be especially dangerous in the spring when the groundwater level rises after the snow melts.

Clean water is very rare in modern wells

When digging and building wells, it is very difficult to determine the location of absolutely clean water. In order to drink from a well without fear for your own health, you need to install various additional filtration systems and conduct a monthly analysis of the chemical composition, since it is impossible to give one hundred percent guarantees that contamination of the source will not occur at all. It is also impossible to guarantee that well water on farms far from the city will be perfectly clean and will not give rise to a whole bunch of infectious diseases, since various chemicals are used to fertilize the land, as well as organic matter (the same manure).

Water pollution

According to the results of recent studies, about a third of the total volume of groundwater does not meet sanitary standards, and this is only in Russia. In some areas of the Moscow region, rates can reach 90%.

In areas located closer to the capital, the quality of water leaves much to be desired, since it contains wastewater from outdated sewer systems, various chemical elements, industrial waste and other harmful substances.

If the water in your well becomes cloudy, you need to stop drinking it. Even a slight decrease in clarity can be a sign of serious contamination. And if the liquid has changed color and acquired an unpleasant odor, it is dangerous to use it even as a technical liquid.

The purest water comes from wells of considerable depth.

The safest is considered to be the aquifer, which is located at a depth of more than 30 meters. This water is called artesian water and is rich in various beneficial microelements. The deeper the well, the fewer harmful impurities. However, digging a well of 30 meters or more is very problematic; it requires significant costs and special work skills.

It is the dream of many summer residents to have their own well or borehole in Tula or the Tula region on their plot: to water the beds, to drink some water, and to wash something. Of course, if there is a body of water nearby, then the need for a well disappears, but, alas, the ideal location of a summer cottage is sometimes the stuff of fairy tales. A well, especially your own, is, first of all, “water independence”, a symbol of comfort and coziness. A professionally dug well is a guarantee of safety and health.

It’s easy to get “water independence” and you can do it yourself: dig it up, arrange it and start using it – it’s a couple of trifles. This is the opinion of many who do not do this professionally. Construction of a water feature is a painstaking, responsible and complex task, requiring skill, skill and experience. Trust only professionals.

Provision of services:

The priority areas for the construction of wells and provision of services are: the northern and central part of the Tula region and the southern and central part of the Moscow region. The remaining areas for work are discussed separately with the manager of your order. Our specialists are ready to answer your questions at the telephone numbers indicated above or through the feedback form.

Digging a well is not an easy task, which is why it needs to be trusted to professionals. Only professionals can find a water source on the site that meets a number of requirements: convenient location on the site, protection from wastewater, maintaining the overall layout of the dacha area. Only professionals can repair or clean an old well.

Our company has been operating on the market for more than 9 years. We carry out work in the Aleksinsky, Venevsky, Dubinsky, Leninsky, Zaoksky and Yasnogorsky districts of the Tula region. We work all year round, except during periods of flood waters.