Spring water tapping

Spring water is usually fed from a sand or gravel water-bearing soil formation called an aquifer, or a water flow through fissured rock. Where solid or clay layers block the underground flow of water, it is forced upwards to the surface. The water may emerge either in the open as a spring, or invisi-bly as an outflow into a river, stream, lake or the sea (Fig. 8.1). Where the water emerges in the form of a spring, it can easily be tapped. The oldest community water supplies were, in fact, often based on springs and they remain a favoured source, because the water usually has a high natural quality and intake arrangements are relatively straightforward.