First, we must establish and explain to you that most of the water you drink comes from a well. Your fathers and mothers and grandparents were well acquainted with this fact, because most of them were born on a farm.

On a farm, you had to find a source of water before you built a house, because land had no value if it did not have a well. Well water was always located below the surface. The farmer had to select a good site, dig a deep cistern (a man-made hole), and tap the well springs of underground water. The farmer enlarged the hole, built walls around it, and placed a bucket at the top, so that he could draw water from the bottom. He called this completed system a well.

Most of us no longer live on farms, but we still drink water from a well. We build bigger wells. We call them reservo…