Ground Water in the Norwalk, Suffield, and Glastonbury Areas, Connecticut

Bculinf) d^vwes. — The most primitive method of lifting water is by bailing with a dipper in shallow wells or with a bucket hung from a rope in deeper wells. In some places the rope is replaced by a light pole with a snap ring at the end by which the bucket is held. These devices are not only inconvenient and laborious to use but are un- sanitary. The '' one-bucket rig " comprises in addition to the roj>e and bucket a gallows-like frame from which is himg a pulley to carry the bucket rope. The "two-bucket rig'' is similar except that it has a bucket at each end of the rope, thus eliminating tlie necessity of sending down the bucket before drawing water. In the " sweep rig '' the bucket is hung by a rope or slender pole from the small end of a sweep 15 to 10 feet long. The sweep is pi\ oted at a crotch in a convenient tree or over a pole set firmly in the ground and has at its butt a counterbalance weight. 36 GROITKD WATER IF NOE WALK AND OTHER AREAS, CONN. In the " wheel and axle rig " the rope from the bucket winds around a wheel 2 to 4 feet in diameter with a grooved face to keep the rope from slipping off. The wheel is carried on an axle 4 to 8 inches in diameter suspended above the well. Wound around the axle is a second rope to which a heavy stone or block of iron is hung. The greater weight of the stone acting on the axle counter- balances the lesser weight of the bucket acting on the large wheel. In the " windlass rig " the rope from the bucket winds around a drum 5 or 6 inches in diameter to which a crank is attached. The windlass is set over the well, and on the drum are flanges to keep the rope from running off. Many are provided with a ratchet to prevent the bucket from falling back and with a brake to use in loAvering the bucket. In some the rope is replaced by a chain either of the ordinary sort or of flat links, by leather straps, or by flat straps of mild brass. The " counterbalance rig " is a modification of the windlass rig in which the rope instead of winding around a drum passes over a pullej^ carried on the crank axle. One end of the rope has a bucket and the other a weight that more than counterbalances the emptj^ bucket but is lighter than the full bucket. In some rigs a chain and suitably notched pullej^ are used instead of a rope and smooth pulley. The rigs described above, as they are generally installed, are open to objection on sanitary grounds. At far too many wells the open curbs and inward-sloping surrounding surface allow access of foreign matter to the v\^ater, and moreover there is danger of pollution from the handling of the bucket and rope. All the devices are much safer when the curbs are tight and hinged covers are pro- vided which may be closed except while water is actually being- drawn. It is also advisable to bank up earth around the well curb or to build a concrete apron around it so that surface water and drippings will flow away. With some of the rigs it is possible to avoid transfer of filth from the hands by using an automatic filling and dumping bucket, an ordinary bucket equipped with a pair of metal prongs opposite each other on the rim. For a few feet next to the bucket the rope is replaced by a flat chain which, as it rolls onto the drum, turns the bucket so that one or the other of the metal prongs engages a cross rod inside the curb. By further wind- ing the bucket is tipped and emptied into a spout. With this arrangement it is unnecessary either to handle the bucket or to open the curb, which may, therefore, be made tight against foreign matter. Puoiips. — Among the principal classes of pumps are displacement pumps, bucket pumps, impeller pumps, and air lifts. Displacement pumps are of two principal sorts — pitcher pumps and deep-well RECOVErvY OF GROUND WATKK, 37 j>uinp>'. Both consist of a cylinder in Avliich a piston moATs. At tlie bottom of the cylinder and in the piston arc valves that open upward. AVhen the piston is raised by means of the handle and connecting rod, Avater rushes into the cylinder from below, and when the piston is depressed the water rises throuoh its valves. Repe- tition of the movement raises the water in successive small masses. In a j^itcher pump the workino- cylinder is at the top of the pipe, above the ground, and the part of the pump above the piston is sliaped to a spout. In a deep-well pump the working cylinder is at some depth and is connected with the delivery pipe by a closed cii.]). On top of the delivery pipe is a standard to carry the pump handle, from which a long rod runs down through the delivery j>ipe to the piston. Some deep-well pumps are double acting— that is, they have extra valves so arranged that water is raised on both Pitcher pump in kitchen ^^, Deep well pump with cylinder in cellar Figure -Diagram showina; two types of iiistallatiou of " house pumps."' the rising and the descending piston stroke instead of only on the rising stroke. Deep-well pumps are superior to pitcher pumps in that they are less liable to freezing, need little or no priming, and can be used in deeper wells by lowering the working cylinder. A displacement pump may be installed in the house or barn at some distance from the well, as shown in figure 7. The suction lift (vertical distance between cylinder and water level) should not be more than 20 to 25 feet for moderate horizontal distances and stiU less if the pump is far from the well. In this report installations of this kind are called "house pumps." Some have a pitcher pump on the first floor and others have a deep-well pump with the working cylinder in the cellar and the pump-handle standard on the first or even the second floor. Chain pumps are used in many w^ells in Connecticut and are of two types — rubber-bucket pumps and metal-bucket pumps. A rubber- bucket ]:)unip is a displacement pump of special type and consists of a long tube through which is passed an endless chain that has thick ridjbcr washers on special links at intervals of G to 10 feet. xVt the 38 GFvOL']SrD WATEE 11^ ISTOEWALK A^B OTHER x\EEAS, CONE". the up and In a few places where garden truck is crops, especially if forced for early mar top the tube is fastened to a curbing, across the top of which is an axle with crank a n d sprocket wheel to take the chain. When the crank is turned chain is drawn through the tube the rubbers act as pis- tons and raise water . which is discharged I through an opening in I the tube near the top. g A metal -bucket y pump, though similar i in external appearance, I is quite different in a principle. A chain, " made of alternating I plain flat links and g special fiat links that ft are fitted with small ofl metal buckets, passes g over a sprocket wheel 1 turned by a crank. 2 The buckets are about ba 2 inches square and i 3 inches deep, and each jj- has a lip so con- a structed that as it § passes over the wheel "^ it empties the water it has carried up from below into a hopper connected to a spout. All these pumps are sanitary if the curb- ing and platform are tight enough to prevent waste water, surface drainage, and solid for- eign matter from enter- ing the well, raised the high value of the kets, makes the pumping of RECOVEPvY OF GROUND WATER.' 39 water for irrigation ])r()(i(al)1i\ '\\\'lls oi' lariir truniu'ti'r arc <lug, l)Ut as the saiiitar\ (jiiality ol' (lio water is unimportant tlicy need not be covered nor vci y carefully walled np. ^^']lere the water table is Injrh and the yield of the well large, as in parts of the plains underlain by stratitied drift, centrifugal pumps di'iven Ity gasoline engines have been founci satisfactory. Inside a closed casing is a fajilike wheel, whieh is rotated at high speed and gives the water enough centrifugal inertia to force it out through a tangential dis- chai'ge pipe. A partial Aacuum is prwUiccd at the center ol' the pump, and water rushes in through a central side opening. These pumps have to be primed, but they are little troubled l)y grit in the Avater. If properly designed and of the right size for the task as- signed them they are very efficient. S'tphon and gravity rigs. — Dug wells situated higher tl\an the points at which the water is to be used laay be developed by means of si]5l)On pipe line provided the Avater level is not more than 25 feet beloAv the ground and is above the point of delivei'y. Figure 8 illustrates such an installation. In some wells, Avliere the water level is near the surface and where no hill intervenes bet\veen the Avell and the point of delivery, and in many springs a diject gravity system mav be used, obviating the necessity" of occasionally priming the siphon. The gravity and siphon rigs are sanitary provided the sur- roundings of the well or spring arc clean. If the pipe is of load care should be taken not to use any water tliat lias stood a long time in the pipe. In some places where the fall from the well is not enough to carry the water to the first floor of the house the water is alloAved to run continuously into a cistern or tank in the cellar, from which it is j^umped by hand. The overflow of siphon ar.d gravity systems is in many places used to supply watering troughs.