The subtleties of choosing a source of drinking water for a summer residence. Their features and comparative characteristics in terms of location, quality, quantity of produced water, installation and its cost, autonomy and durability. A well and a well are irreplaceable sources of water supply for a backyard economy. Without any of them, living in the country is unlikely to be comfortable. To find out which is better for a house - a well or a well, our article will help you.
Features of the well and the well
To choose the option between digging a well or a well, you should have a clear idea of the structure of these structures, as well as the pros and cons of each of them.
Wells are among the most ancient hydraulic structures. For water intake from them, the aquifer closest to the ground surface is used. The well shaft crosses it and ends with a 0.5-2 m deepening into a solid rock layer. Most often they are round, less often rectangular. Their usual depth is from 10 to 15 m.
To raise water from the krynitsa, gates or pumps are used. Water flowing down from the sandy horizon can accumulate in the source. Its quantity is limited. If you have to pump out all the available water, it will come again, but after a certain period of time.
Wells include more modern water sources. They are sandy, artesian, differ in depth. The former are used to pump water out of the sandy aquifer. Their diameter is usually from 50 to 100 mm, the depth is from 20 to 50 m. The latter pump out water from layers located in hard rocks. The depth of an artesian well reaches 100 m or more, and its diameter is from 120 mm. In the lower part of the wells of both types, they are equipped with special filters. Water from the pipe shaft of such a structure is constantly pumped out by a pump and again continuously enters the well, seeping under pressure through the filtering device. The operation of the system is organized in such a way that the pumping out of water is constantly compensated by its inflow. Therefore, the well is always full of water.
Comparative characteristics of a well and a well
Now, after familiarizing yourself with the fundamental differences between the above-described water supply sources, they can be compared to figure out under what conditions this or that structure will be better.
Location of sources
Consider the differences in the device of a well or well for a private house in relation to their location. And the differences are quite significant. A well, for example, should be located from manure heaps, cesspools, toilets and other sewage collectors at a distance of at least 30 m. For a well, this distance can be reduced by 2 times. Digging a well near a reservoir is undesirable; the slope of a ravine should also not be used for this purpose. Otherwise, the source will be filled with dirty soil water.
When choosing any of the two water supply systems, it is necessary to provide convenient travel and parking for equipment, be it an excavator or drilling equipment. In addition, it is important to determine the storage location for the materials. The construction of a well requires additional territory for land from the excavated pit. As for the well, it can be drilled even at the place of construction of the house, if it is not already there. This will significantly reduce the cost of pipes, but can then create problems with the repair of this water source.
It is sometimes much more difficult to choose a place for digging a well than for drilling a well. It needs a lot more. Especially if we take into account the fact that mobile drilling rigs do not require a large area for their work.
Water quality
Today, man-made pollution is harmful to groundwater, especially if the latter are shallow. The peculiarity of the lower aquifers is the presence of their additional protection by geological layers of clay. Therefore, water taken from a great depth is cleaner, but it may contain impurities of mineral salts.
Water intake structures, made in the form of wells, collect water from a depth of only 15 m. And water intake from wells comes from the lower aquifers, due to which the water extracted from such sources is of better quality, and its quantity is greater. Although a perfectly clean fluid does not exist either in wells or wells.
As a result, comparing the water of a new well or well, we note:
- The water quality of the creeks is steadily decreasing as a result of an increase in the volume of wastes of various origins, some of which penetrate into the upper horizons of soil waters.
- Due to the significant depth of the well, better quality water is supplied, however, it may contain impurities.
Amount of water
Let's consider our sources in terms of their performance. A good well can supply 3-5 m per day3 water. This means that almost 5000 liters of liquid can be pumped out of it during the day. However, in practice, the indicators of the liquid arriving at the well are of a different value - up to 2 m3 per day. Such cases force the inhabitants of private houses to face its disadvantage and save in every possible way, resorting to collecting rainwater in tanks or installing hydraulic accumulators.
Well performance is much better. If such a source has a depth of about 50 m, it can give out 1-3 m in an hour.3 water or 5-6 m3 at a depth of 100 m. This suggests that in an hour as much water can be pumped out of a well as from a well in one day. In this case, it is necessary to take into account the capacity of the sewage system, which, due to the high water consumption, must be increased.
In order to calculate the amount of water consumed in the economy to select its source, you need to summarize the consumption data. So, according to SNIP, on average one person needs 200 liters per day for his own needs. Therefore, this number needs to be multiplied by the number of inhabitants of the house.
In addition, you should take into account the amount of liquid for irrigation, which will require 3-6 l / day per 1 m3 soil. The expense for technical needs can also include washing the car and filling the pool. After such accounting, the total expense for a family consisting, for example, of 4 people, can be 2-4 m3 per day or more.
Thus, when planning a significant water consumption, it should be understood that the well productivity may not be enough to meet it. But it is perfect if the water consumption is low, or as a backup option. Based on the calculations, it is easy to decide on the choice of building a well or a well in the country.
Arrangement and price
The arrangement method is one of the main differences between private water supply sources. To create a well, special equipment is required. Therefore, almost all work here is mechanized, full-size and mobile installations can be used. If there is not enough space on the site for the arrival of vehicles, such a problem will not stop drilling a well. To service this water source, a technological pit is made, which is located above the barrel. The tank is made of concrete or clay brick, always has a hatch with a lid and a pump inside for pumping out water.
Digging a well is a hand job. In addition to the owners, it can also be performed by hired workers. When the depth of the pit reaches 2-3 m, concrete rings are alternately lowered into it, periodically selecting and digging in the soil under the lowest of them. Under the weight of concrete, the products sink lower and lower until the well gets the desired depth.
If we compare the speed of the work performed, then the leading position in the arrangement of the water source is taken by the well. During a working day, a link of workers will be able to install a maximum of 3 rings in the pit of the well, and if the soil is very dense, their number can greatly decrease. As a result, it turns out that a ten-meter well will have to be dug out for almost a week, while a well of the same depth can be drilled in just a couple of hours.
As for the cost of work, digging a well will be less costly. The price depends on the depth of the future structure and includes excavation, delivery, insulation and installation of concrete rings. The costs of warming the bottom and auxiliary equipment - pipes, etc., are not excluded.
The cost of drilling a wellbore is related to the location of the site, pipe diameter, and also depends on the technical specifications for water supply. However, if the sand layer is shallow within 15 m, a wellbore may be cheaper than digging a well, but this is not often the case.
Autonomy of sources
The use of a well or a water well is characterized by their autonomy. Well water can be drawn manually with a bucket or pump, feeding it through pipes.
To manually draw fluid from a well, you will have to buy a mechanical unit, but electric pumps are usually used. If the electricity on the site is cut off for any reason, it will become impossible to take water from the drilled well, which cannot be said about the well.
Durability of sources
It depends on the location of the aquifer used in their exploitation, and may depend on chance. For example, neighbors on the site, digging a well for themselves, can get into "your" aquifer, thereby reducing the water supply in it.
According to statistics, cases of water disappearance in the well are rare. The reasons for this may be silting of the trunk due to a long downtime of the structure or a malfunction of its filter. Wells can dry out much more often and therefore require more attention than wells. It is expressed in the timely maintenance of the structure - cleaning, disinfection, etc.
Supply of communications
The device of automatic systems that distribute water to consumers is practically the same for our sources. The line transporting the liquid consists of a PVC pipe, a roll of insulation, an electric heating wire. In the well version, it is longer.
The well pump is the central hub for domestic water supply. With a rational choice of this unit, its durability and convenient operation will be ensured.
Sometimes the installation of a pump with a supply of communications from a well is a difficult task, which can only be solved by a competent specialist. With a well, everything is easier - even a home master can install a pump in it.
Tips for choosing a water supply
It is advisable to take care of the future water supply of your household farm even at the stage of choosing and buying a land plot. So that it does not happen that there is no clean water in its depths at all or it is very deep, it is necessary to know the results of geological research in this area or consult an organization engaged in drilling. The people working there have the information they need.
Another option is to ask the owners of neighboring plots about their water sources, its quantity, about the company that carried out excavation or drilling works at the neighbors, about the results of water analysis, whether they were carried out, etc. This information will be the most reliable. If the neighbors on the site use the wells and are satisfied with this, then it is worth choosing this particular type of water supply as the most reliable option.
Thus, digging up the bottom will be rational only when it is completely impossible to get water from the depths due to the natural characteristics of the soil conditions of the construction zone. The well will draw drinking water from high water bodies. If it is of unsatisfactory quality, you can purchase a treatment plant.
Choosing which is better - a well or a well, many often think about the price of their device. However, it should not be forgotten that the health of yours and those of those close to you depends on the quality of the liquid taken orally. Water from an artesian well is the most useful for drinking.
What is better a well or a well - watch the video:
