There is no need to convince people that water is one of the most essential components of life support.

Not that much drinking water is needed — about 3 liters per person per day. In extreme cases, it can be brought in — bottles of drinking water with a capacity of up to 20 liters are available for sale.

Household water needs are not so modest, they amount to about 120-250 liters per person per day. And when it is necessary to water the garden and vegetable garden, fill the pool, feed the fountain, etc., the numbers become more impressive. And if there is no possibility to connect to the centralized water supply system, you have to get water literally from under the ground.
Water consumption per person in accordance with the standards:

When supplied from a column outside the house — 40 liters;
If there is a water supply and sewerage system in the house — 120-150 liters;
The same with the bathroom and hot water (solid fuel water boiler, gas water heater) — 180 liters;
Hot water supply system with several washbasins, a bathtub and showers — 250 l.

Daily water consumption rates on a garden plot:

Watering (per 1 sq. m) — 4 l;

For greenhouses — 6 l.

For livestock and poultry:

cow — 60 l;
poultry — 1 — 1.5 l;

Water pressure at the inlet:

into a one-story house — 10 m;
into a two-story house — 14 m.

GROUNDWATER

When precipitation penetrates the upper (filtration) layer of soil (see Fig. 24), it descends lower and lower until it is stopped by an impermeable soil layer, which usually consists of dense, fatty clay rocks. Here, water accumulates in the unevenness of the upper boundary of the layer, thereby forming aquifer lenses or continuous layers (horizons) with an admixture of sand, clay, earth, and gravel.

If water finds paths (pores, cracks, permeable inclusions) in the impermeable layer, it seeps below and fills the interstratal cavities between two impermeable layers.

Thus, depending on the shape and depth of the impermeable layers, the underground layers can be located at different heights:

up to 4 meters (surface
water); up to 10 meters (groundwater);
up to 40 meters (interstratal water);
more than 40 meters (artesian water).

All of these are free, or gravitational, waters (they move freely under the action of gravity) – in contrast to the so-called bound waters, which are retained in rocks, for example, by molecular forces, and do not participate in underground circulation.

Fig. 24. Underground water: 1 – perched water; 2 – groundwater; 3 – interstratal water; 4 – artesian water.

Perched water is water that forms at shallow depths, immediately under the upper, filtering layer of soil due to the seepage (filtration) of atmospheric precipitation. Perched water has two serious drawbacks as a source of water supply: it is untreated, fecal water from latrines or other contaminants can penetrate it (it is not suitable for drinking). It is seasonal in nature, since it is fed by rain and melt water.

Groundwater is the aquifer closest to the surface. Unlike perched water, it always exists, regardless of the season. The groundwater aquifer is thus located below the perched water. Underneath it is an impermeable layer that prevents groundwater from leaving this layer. The ground aquifer is unconfined: if you drill a well or dig a hole or pit to the water table, its level will remain the same.

Groundwater is not only stable, but also much cleaner than surface water, as it is filtered by the topsoil. Therefore, this water can be used for autonomous water supply of suburban housing.

Below the groundwater are horizons of interstratal water. They are separated from the groundwater by impermeable or semi-permeable rocks. This aquifer can be either confined, under pressure (then these are artesian waters), or unconfined. Groundwater is fed either from the surface or from overlying water layers. If confined groundwater comes to the surface, springs or keys are formed. They are often found in lowlands: in gullies, ravines, at the foot of slopes.

Artesian waters are the most preferable for water supply: they are perfectly purified due to filtration through impermeable layers, are stable and do not require energy to lift the water to the surface.

WHERE TO DIG? Of

course, it happens that you will not find water near your home at all, for example, if there is a solid rock slab under the soil. There is nothing you can do about it. But most often there is water under us. Let’s assume that we are lucky.

Searching for underground water is an art that people have mastered since time immemorial. Experts in this field enhance their sense of smell for water with the help of a simple device – a vine, a branch with a fork like a slingshot.

A dowser walks along the ground, guided by his mysterious intuition, and holds a light vine in his hand. He holds it barely, without squeezing it in his hand, so as not to interfere with the vine giving him a sign. Where there is water underground, the vine will tremble: the plane of the fork will turn around its axis.

In the old days, dowsers could not explain their gift, but in our days of fascination with extrasensory perception, theorists of this business seem to have figured it all out and improved the simple device, replacing the wooden fork with a scientifically proven wire arrow (Fig. 25). One way or another, whether a dowser or a hydrogeologist, as a rule, finds water.

Fig. 25. Dowser’s tool: a — rod; b, c — wire arrows.

The best time to dig a well is the end of August, the time when groundwater is at its lowest.

WATER INTAKE

Of course, water does not ask where it is more convenient for it to come to the surface, but it is desirable that the water intake, especially the well, is located upstream of the groundwater and away from the toilet, cesspool, etc.