power-driven pump with suitable hose attachments supplies continuous water pressure during drilling. One type of rig uses a block and tackle or a tripod for controlling the tools and casing. Larger rigs have a mast and hoisting block and use engine power for handling casing, drive weight, and pump. Water is led into the well through a small diameter pipe and forced downward through the drill bit against the bottom of the hole. The stream loosens the material, the finer portion of which is carried upward and out of the hole by the ascending water. During the drilling, the jet or drill is turned slowly to ensure a straight hole. Casing is sunk as fast as drilling proceeds. In softer materials, by using a paddy or expansion drill, a hole may be made somewhat larger than the casing. The casing then may be lowered a considerable distance by its own weight. Ordinarily a drive weight is needed to force it down. As a rule, one size of casing is used for the entire depth of the well. It is difficult to drive a single string of casing beyond 500 to 600 feet by this method. If a well is sunk much deeper, an additional string of smaller size must be used. In fine-textured material the hole often may be jetted to the full depth and the casing inserted afterward. The wall of the hole becomes puddled by the muddy water so it will stand alone.

A driven well is constructed by driving a pointed screen, or drive point, and attached pipe directly into a water-bearing formation. The finished well consists of a series of lengths of pipe fitted at the upper end with a pump and the lower end with a sand screen through which the water is admitted. The drive point consists of a perforated pipe with a mild steel point at its lower end to break through pebbles or thin layers of hard material. As the drive point is driven down, succeeding sections are screwed into place. These sections continue until the water-bearing formation is reached. The pump then is attached, and after the well has been developed, it is ready for use. Drive point wells usually range in diameter from 1 1/4 to 2 inches, but larger sizes up to 4 inches also are made. The larger sizes, although of greater weight and more difficult to drive, have the advantage that deep-well pumps can be used when necessary. The smaller sizes, because of their lesser weight and greater portability, are valuable for determining the depth of water-bearing formations and for test yields at shallow depths. The depth of the well is limited by the formations encountered and by the type of pump available. For small wells, the ground water level must be within 25 feet of the surface because suction pumps generally are used. If small self-priming centrifugal pumps are used, the lift must be less than 25 feet. If 2-inch or larger pipes are used, it is possible to lift water from a greater depth by installing a cylinder-type pump near the water level.

The following conditions are necessary for successful driven wells. The formation into which the point is being driven must not be too hard and compact. The distance to ground water must not exceed the lift of the pumps available. The water- bearing formations must have moderately high permeability to provide adequate yields in small- diameter wells. The wells must be developed properly to obtain sufficient water.

Chief disadvantages against general use of driven wells are as follows. Construction is laborious and slow when tightly compacted soils are encountered. Driving is destructive to well equipment; points frequently are stripped of mesh; pipe is bent and broken. Couplings frequently are belled by the force of the hammer blows. Belled joints always leak air and either render the well useless or seriously impair the yield of water. Yields are small from any one well point. As many as five points connected in series may be required to operate a power pump to capacity.

Successful construction of driven wells depends upon close observation and correct interpretation of events (occurring while driving) by the well driver. Accurate interpretation of such details as the penetration made with each blow, the drop and rebound of the monkey, the sound of the blow, and the resistance of the pipe to rotation enables the experienced well driver to determine the character of the materials being penetrated. An approximation of the geological section of the well can be obtained by recording these observations. Study of the logs for successive wells, coupled with a study of the results obtained from each well, assists in developing trained well drivers with each successive well.

Although a well site may have been properly selected, the strata correctly interpreted, and the presence of water accurately judged, wells may fail to yield water merely because they have not been pumped to clear the fine sediment from around the screen. When the presence of water is suspected, a simple test is to pour water into the well. If the screen is in dry sand, the water sinks downward and seeps into the formation, but if the screen is in saturated sand, the level of the added water remains nearly stationary or quickly sinks to a static level. Also the quantity