Driven Point Wells Used for Drinking Water

The driven well consists of a pointed perforated pipe or a pipe with a pointed well screen attached which has been driven into an aquifer.

The pipe with pointed well screen is driven into place in much the same way a nail is driven into wood. Normally special pipe with thick walls and specially designed couplings are used to resist the driving forces.

Under suitable conditions this method can yield a finished well in a very short time. While the well diameter is normally small and the yield relatively low, a number of driven wells may be coupled together and pumped with a single pump.

Because driven wells are quick to construct, they may be used as a temporary source of water and then be pulled up when no longer needed. Driven well points may be installed and used for de watering an excavation during construction.

Watch out: all of these shallow, small-diameter wells, found usually just where soils are highly permeable and sandy, are tapping shallow groundwater where surface runoff contamination of the aquifer is likely: these wells are vulnerable to contamination from above. Well water from a driven point well or other shallow well should be regularly tested for potability.