Brick-lined well

A brick-lined well is a hand-dug water well whose walls are lined with bricks, sometimes called "Dutch bricks" if they are trapezoidal or made on site. The technique is ancient, but is still appropriate in developing countries where labor costs are low and material costs are high.

Hand-dug wells are mentioned in the Bible. Inscriptions in Mesopotamia tell of construction of brick-lined wells in the period before the rule of Sargon of Akkad (c. 2334 – 2279 BC). Brick-lined wells have been excavated at Mohenjo-daro and Harappa in the Indus Valley. Mature Harappan (2600–1900 BC) technology included brick-lined wells, perhaps derived from earlier designs. One well would have served a neighborhood. The clay bricks are trapezoidal in shape, with one end smaller than the other. The bricks are arranged in circles pointing inward. The smaller ends form the inside walls. In the settlement of Lothal a brick-lined building on an elevated mound included a well lined with baked bricks, a bathing facility and a drain.

Brick-lined wells of more recent date have been found around the world. They have been found in Sanjan, Gujarat, India, built around the 11th century AD. Archeological excavations in Virginia, USA, have found what appears to be a brick-lined well from the 17th century. Brick-lined wells were typical of 19th century farmsteads in rural Illinois. In the Shijiazhuang area of Hebei, China, irrigation using wells was highly developed before the Revolution. Five or six men could dig a brick-lined well with a depth of 7 to 10 metres (23 to 33 ft) in a week. This could irrigate crops over an area of up to 20 mu. The same men could dig an unlined well in one day, basically a pit in the ground, but the irrigation capacity was only one fifth of that of the brick-lined well.

In West Africa branches were traditionally used to line hand-dug wells, but this requires use of forest resources that are now often scarce. Old 55 US gallons (210 l; 46 imp gal) steel barrels can be used to make linings. These can be lowered from the surface as the well is dug and reduce risk when the well is sunk in sand, gravel or some other unstable formation. However, they corrode and deform easily. Cement brick linings are stronger, unlikely to deform, and the courses can be linked structurally. They are generally cost-effective, although more expensive than barrel linings.

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