If you have the skills required to pound a nail into a board with a hammer, then you also have the skills to augment your water supply. All you need is a few common tools and about two weekends worth of work in order to save the thousands of dollars that a drilling company would charge you to tap ground water sources that you yourself can reach.

Many methods exists to reach the underground layer of fresh water beneath land, ranging from digging to blasting. Many are too expensive, technical, or dangerous for the average person. The United States Army, however, developed a method to provide troops with underground water that the average person is capable of without much expense or danger. Soldiers drove a pipe into the ground, using a sledgehammer, until they reached water. This technique has become ideal for supplying underground water to homes and villages in nations still under development.

It is important to keep in mind that driving a pipe deep into the ground is not a job for a super hero because too hard of a blow with the sledgehammer can damage pipe threads. The best way to begin is to soften the ground before you begin by digging a hole at the site you select and then filling it with water and allowing it to settle in the hole for about a week. Keep the hole shallow, ranging anywhere from 5 to 10 feet, because deep holes will need reinforcement to prevent them from caving.

Make sure your selected location is not close to any septic tanks, sewer lines, chemical storage tanks, animal pens, or anything else that could be considered a potential contaminant. It is also recommended that you check with your county’s health official concerning any regulations or permit requirements. They also have records of well logs and additional geological data that can help advise you about the subsurface composition, the estimated depth at which you will find water, and the quality of the water. Any neighbors that you have close by can also be helpful. Dropping a weight on the end of a string into their well can also give you an approximation of how far you will have to go before reaching water.


The equipment needed to start this project includes a 2-inch drive point with screen (this is a hollow, conically shaped metal point adjoined to a fine mesh screen), several spools of Teflon tape, 2-inch galvanized couplings that can attach the pipe lengths together, 5-foot-long threaded lengths of 2-inch galvanized Schedule 40 pipe, 2-inch galvanized caps for the pipe, concrete mix, a weight, a foot valve, and 85 feet of ½ inch inside diameter, thick-walled, flexible, UV resistant, polyethylene tubing.