water well

Also known as well, Well, borewell, village pump, water wells

thumb|A dug well in a village in Faryab Province, [[Afghanistan]] thumb|The difference between a well and a cistern is in the source of the water: a cistern collects [[rainwater whereas a well draws from groundwater.]]

AI overview

A water well is a hole dug into the ground to access groundwater for drinking and other uses, which distinguishes it from a cistern that collects rainwater instead. Wells matter because they provide a reliable source of fresh water by tapping into underground water supplies, making them essential for communities that need consistent access to water.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

In the Vinony graph

Vinony's link graph records 2,736 inbound references to water well, and connects out to drinking water, artesian well and soil science.

It is catalogued under topics including Archaeological features, Bodies of water and In situ geotechnical investigations.

Vinony links it to 125 Wikipedia language editions.

Research

223,873 papers

Private Well Water Safety: Practical Counseling Strategies for Primary Care.ReviewJournal of the American Board of Family Medicine : JABFM · 2025Jegen DA, Bernard ME, Jannetto PJDOI: 10.3122/jabfm.2025.250243R1
Well Water Arsenic Mitigation in Bangladesh: Benefits Outweighing Risks of Sharing Private Environmental Data.ReviewEnvironmental science & technology · 2025Khan M, Ahmed KM, Dey B et al.DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.5c06441
Arsenic Exposure in Well Water From the Perspective of Patients and Providers.Journal of primary care & community health · 2024Jegen D, Maxson J, Fischer K et al.DOI: 10.1177/21501319241247984
Strategies to Improve Private-Well Water Quality: A North Carolina Perspective.ReviewEnvironmental health perspectives · 2017MacDonald Gibson J, Pieper KJDOI: 10.1289/EHP890
Well water methemoglobinemia.New York state journal of medicine · 1949WOOD IR
Drinking private well water: Groundwater quality and management of wells in southern Alabama.Journal of water and health · 2025Millner S, Malina N, Rogers SR et al.DOI: 10.2166/wh.2025.380
Water Well Hydrographs: An Underutilized Resource for Characterizing Subsurface Conditions.Ground water · 2021Butler JJ Jr, Knobbe S, Reboulet EC et al.DOI: 10.1111/gwat.13119
The private well water climate impact index: Characterization of community-level climate-related hazards and vulnerability in the continental United States.The Science of the total environment · 2024Peer K, Hubbard B, Monti M et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.177409

via PubMed

Wikidata facts

Image: Puiser de l'eau dans un puit 10.jpg

Show 4 more facts

OpenStreetMap tag: man_made=water_well
Commons category: Water wells
exact match: purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_00000026
P8168: Decibel

Sources (6)

via Wikidata · CC0

~33 min read

Encyclopedic overview

24 sections

Contents

History
Types
Dug wells
Driven wells
Drilled wells
Classification
Siting
Contamination
Pathogens
Chemical contamination
Prevention
Mitigation
Environmental problems
Soil salination
Methane
PFAS/PFOS Fire fighting foam
Water security
Society and culture
A simple model for water well recovery
Similar and related water structures
See also
References
Bibliography
External links

A well is an excavation or structure created on the earth by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The well water is drawn up by a pump, or using containers, such as buckets that are raised mechanically or by hand. Water can also be injected back into the aquifer through the well. Wells were first constructed at least eight thousand years ago and historically vary in construction from a sediment of a dry watercourse to the qanats of Iran, and the stepwells and sakiehs of India. Placing a lining in the well shaft helps create stability, and linings of wood or wickerwork date back at least as far as the Iron Age.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “water well” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.