Places with underground water?

Question

How do people know where to drill for a water well (ex: in Africa)? What kind of techniques/expertise?

Answer 1

I do not know what resources are available in Africa.

But, in the USA, you can go to the USGS and do a water well search in just about any area of the country. The data will show when the well was drilled, how deep it is, when the last reported monitoring event occured, the screened interval and the name of the water bearing formation.

Using a licensed water well driller, the well can then be planned as to what the casing depths will be, how deep the well will be, and an antipicated groundwater yield. From this data, municipalities are able to budget the cost of the installation and development of new water wells.

Answer 2

Well, at lakes and rivers, the groundwater level is essentially at zero feet below ground surface. In areas that get a lot of rain, you'd take the elevation of the surface water and assume your groundwater at another point would be at a similar elevation. This works well in areas that are flat (like the Midwest).

But things are a little different in arid areas and areas with a lot of faulting or underground structures (such as caves) - there's a lot more to consider before drilling a well.

Hydrogeologists specialize in groundwater issues.

Answer 3

Caves. If you can find them - Ozark Underground Laboratory - Tom and Cathy Aley . There cave is Tumbling creek cave.If you can't find them try the Springfield Plateau Grotto (SPG) .They can get you to them. All you want to know about underground water. They are the ones to ask. Try kcgrotto.org -click on guano down load the February news letter. There has a long article about the underground lab in it. I hope this isn't to much Info.Its something I enjoy. Did you know the temperature of underground water changes - flow rates - pollution. You might be surprised in the amount of life you can find in underground water . That's another question.
Happy Caving Carroll