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[[Image:Treadle_pump_icon.png|right]]

[[Image:Baptist drilling.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Baptist drilling rig in operation. Note the drilling mud gushing out of the drill pipe.]]

[[Image:Baptist_drilling2.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Baptist drilling rig in operation.]]

[[Image:Baptist_drilling_start.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Starting a Baptist drilling.]]

[[Image:Drill bits and valves.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Drill bits and valves]]

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The Baptist method is a manual drilling method based on the [[Sludging - Asian sludge|Asian Sludge method]]. The method was developed to be used by very poor villagers in developing countries, who quickly learn how to drill their wells themselves. The Baptist drilling rig can be built in any ordinary arc welding workshop and materials for a basic version costs about 150 US$ (2006 prices).

The method was developed by Terry Waller, a North American Baptist missionary, in Africa and Bolivia. It applies some of the same principles used in mechanized commercial well drilling, but does so using the simplest, most available and cheapest possible materials.

Rural people in developing countries often cannot afford to have specialists drill or dig wells for them. This method was developed to provide poor people with a way to help themselves with their water supply. Having built their own well and pump, users become independent from external help for their water supply.

Suitable for unconsolidated formations: Sand, silt and clay. If rotated (including a drill bit) it may be possible to penetrate softer-consolidated formations such as stiff clays, soft sandstone, and weathered laterite. It will not, however, penetrate hard [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igneous igneous] rock or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boulder boulders] (e.g. in ancient river beds).