A
water well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, boring, or drilling to access
groundwater in underground
aquifers. The well water is drawn by a
pump, or using containers, such as buckets, that are raised mechanically or by hand. Wells were first constructed at least eight thousand years ago and historically vary in construction from a simple scoop in the sediment of a dry watercourse to the
stepwells of India, the
qanats of Iran, and the
shadoofs and
sakiehs of India. Placing a lining in the well shaft helps create stability and linings of wood or wickerwork date back at least as far as the
Iron Age.