When my high school chum moved to the southern part of Metro Manila, they had to have water delivered because there was no water system in their area. And instead of spending 1,000 pesos a month for water delivery, she spent 70,000 to have an artesian well that would give them free water for lifetime. In a simple computation, the cost of that artesian well is equivalent to 70 months of their water delivery expenses. However, she did not add the cost of the pump that uses electricity. But in fairness to her, she had saved money in a span of 10 years or 120 months of free water.
I last learnt of artesian wells during my geography lessons and I am fascinated about them. In my area, we use boreholes which are expensive to dig but once they have been dug, a large community can have access to clean continuous flow of water. I would wish to learn about other alternate methods like the Artesian well technology, it could be cheaper and look forward to more information on the same. I have seen about other simple technologies which require only time and labour but locating a shallow basin is the most cost effective step for a start.
I do think that's building an Artesian well is good idea but it could or could not work depending on your location. There's a large water reserve in rural areas so it's possible to have lifetime supply of water through the well. If you live in the city, you have to tap water from nearby reservoirs but a highly dense population could very well slow down the water distribution.
It's not solely about the drilling of a well and merely accessing water. There are some further considerations to this process such as: If there is there is an adequate supply of water to ensure a steady supply for an extended period of time If the ground water quality is safe for consumption Will the project be cost effective These are some important factors to consider because there is an increasing threat of contamination of water sources because of human errors and it would also not be prudent to spend a considerable amount to access water only to find out that source soon dries up.
The easiest way to find out if there might be an adequate supply of water underground is by having the well during the driest season. If the well doesn't dry up in summer then it's not likely it will be drying up any other time of the year. There'll be more water underground when it rains, after all.
