Drilling or digging

Access to groundwater is not always easy, so many different types of drilling mechanisms (ranging in depth capacity and costs) are covered in this section. Africa, for example, is said to have rich amounts of groundwater, as compared with other continents. That said, machine-drilled wells are often too expensive for most of the population. Drilling ‘shallow’ wells (up to 35 meter depth) by hand, reduces the price of a well by a factor 4 to 10 compared to a machine-drilled borehole. This cost reduction enables NGOs and Governments to construct more water wells, but also ‘opens the door’ to villagers, farmers, schools and small communities to have a well constructed independently through the private sector.

Climate change considerations
With climate change events, such as drought, some areas of groundwater may be drying up, therefore deeper boreholes and wells may need to be drilled (creating greater expense). Since some aquifers will provide less water in times of drought, perched aquifers (aquifers higher than the water table) should be avoided. Coastal aquifers may get invaded by saline waters, therefore be sure to check water quality.

Hand auger - general	Hand auger - Vonder rig	Hand auger - driven wells	Percussion drilling	Percussion - Stone hammer
Jetting - general	Jetting - EMAS method	Jetting - Engine powered rotary jetting	Sludging - Rota sludge	Sludging - Baptist method
Sludging - Asian sludge	Traditional hand-dug wells	Infiltration wells	Riverbed hand-dug wells	Riverbed jetted and driven wells
Rooted Reservoir Well	Bamboo screens

Contents

Field experiences

These projects may be utilizing manual digging or drilling and are part of the project listing in Really Simple Reporting (RSR) on Akvo.org.

RSR Project 703 MWA-LAP: Mexico	RSR Project 727 TESO North School and Community WASH Project	RSR Project 397 Eau Hygiène et Assainissement	RSR Project 401 Eau, hygiène et assainissement	RSR Project 473 Project Water4Tomorrow

RSR Project 922 WaterAid Rural WASH Project	RSR Project 529 Water Sanitation and Hygiene Project	RSR Project 788 MWA-LAP: Nicaragua	RSR Project 388 WASH Alliance project, AMREF in Ethiopia	RSR Project 822 Urban WASH II in Monrovia

RSR Project 933 Accelerating Sanitation and Water for All 1	RSR Project 1112 Child Friendly School WASH Project II	RSR Project 1366 Rural Boreholes and Rehabilitation 1	RSR Project 1367 Panta District Rural Water Project 1	RSR Project 1374 Integrated Community Water and Hygiene

Manual drilling comparison of methods

Drilling Method Selection. Chart: WEDC Loughborough University Leicestershire.

Manual drilling links

How to Professionalize the Manual Drilling Sector in Africa 1	How to Professionalize the Manual Drilling Sector in Africa 2	Professionalizing Manual Drilling: 2. Building Capacity (English)
Professionlizing Manual Well Drilling: 4. Mapping (English)	Professionalizing Manual Well Drilling: 2. Drilling Techniques

• VIDEO: Manual drilling and pump installation, Madagascar by The Water Channel.
• Human-Powered Drilling Technologies, Richard Carter, Cranfield University, 2005.
• Groundwater and climate change in Africa: The Kampala Statement. Richard Taylor, University College London (UK), IAH Commission of Groundwater & Climate Change.

Acknowledgements

• Understanding Groundwater and Wells in Manual Drilling. Unicef.org.