Where does my well water come from? What are the ground water and geological characteristics of the different parts of Virginia?
• Ground water moves laterally to pumping wells. The “recharge area” for a well depends on how deep the well is and in what types of rock or sediment it is located. Throughout Virginia’s five major physiographic provinces, shallow dug or bored wells are not much deeper than the water table and usually obtain water that infiltrated relatively nearby, typically less than a mile. Recharge areas for deeper wells are more variable. Recharge to wells drilled into rocks in the Piedmont and Blue Ridge also is fairly localized. Wells drilled into rocks in the Valley and Ridge sometimes intercept water that has traveled as far as several miles, particularly in limestone areas with large cave systems. In the Coastal Plain, wells drilled into deep sand layers can intercept water that traveled several tens of miles, from recharge areas that may be several counties away.
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