It is a popular fallacy that all spring water is absolutely pure and healthful. The above explanation will be helpful in pointing out how, in some cases, spring water may be nothing but contaminated ground water. Land springs in uncultivated and uninhabited regions, particularly in the mountains, yield a good and pure supply. But it is always advisable, when tapping a spring for water supply, to study its probable source, and carefully to inspect its immediate surroundings. The spring should be protected by constructing a small basin, or reservoir, and by building a house over this. The basin will also serve to store the night flow of the spring. Before deciding upon a supply from a spring, its yield should be ascertained by one of the well-known gauging methods. Springs are usually lowest in the months of October and November, though there is some difference in this respect between land springs and deep springs. The minimum yield of the spring determines whether it forms a supply to be relied upon at all times of the year.
If the spring is located higher than the grounds and buildings to be supplied, a simple gravity supply line may be carried from it, with pipes of good size, thus avoiding undue friction in the line, and stoppages. If lower than the house, the water from the spring must be raised by some pumping method.
All water found underground owes its origin to the rainfall. If concealed water is returned to the surface by natural processes it is called spring water, but if recovered by artificial means it is called well water.
Different Kinds of Wells
There are numerous kinds of wells, distinguished from one another by their mode of construction, by their depth from the surface, by the fact of their piercing an impervious stratum or merely tapping the first underground sheet of water, and by the height to which the water in them rises or flows. Thus we have shallow and deep wells, horizontal wells or infiltration galleries, open or dug wells, tube wells, non-flowing and flowing wells, bored, drilled, and driven wells, tile-lined and brick-lined wells, and combination dug-and-tubular wells.
When it is desired to provide a water supply by means of wells some knowledge of the geology of the region, of the character of the strata and of their direction and dip, will be very useful. In the case of deep wells, it is really essential. By making inquiries as to similar well operations in the neighborhood, one may gain some useful information, and thus, to some extent, avoid guesswork. When one must drill or bore through rock for a very deep well, which necessarily is expensive, much money, often uselessly spent, may be saved by consulting the reports of the State geologist, or the publications of the United States Geological Survey, or by engaging the services of an expert hydrogeologist.
"Water Finders"
It used to be a common practice to send for so-called "water finders," who being usually shrewd observers would locate by the aid of a hazel twig the exact spot where water could be found. In searching for water one sometimes runs across these men even to-day. The superstitious faith in the power of the forked twig or branch from the hazelnut bush to indicate by its twisting or turning the presence of underground water was at one time widespread, but only the very slightest foundation of fact exists for the belief in such supernatural powers.
In Europe, attention has again, during the past years, been called to this "method" of finding water, and it has even received the indorsement of a very high German authority in hydraulic engineering, a man well up in years, with a very wide practical experience, and the author of the most up-to-date hand-book on "Water Supply," but men of science have not failed to contradict his statements.