There’s an old saying: “If it was easy, then everyone would do it.” Drilling isn’t easy, but it’s fun and rewarding when we are able to complete a project and provide water to those who need it.
God is amazing and has designed his creation to store a tremendous amount of water for us underground, but we sometimes have to use large and expensive drill rigs to find it.
Once the location is determined and the equipment is in place, the power of the rig begins to chew up the first layers of earth. For us, each layer is important and is recorded as we drill deeper and deeper. Many times, we are drilling in areas that are new to us and that we haven’t explored before, so it is very important to record the different kinds of formations that we find.
![A Living Water Sierra Leone driller operates a drilling rig.](https://stories.water.cc/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/D608084-1024x576.jpg)
Our drillers either use a powerful compressor to blow soil out as we drill, or we use a large pump that will create a powerful circulation to push the soil up and out of the hole for us. Then we analyze the soil and see what we are drilling through.
A driller is always looking for sand, gravel, or fractures in stone that may contain water. This process goes on and on until the driller either sees water blow out of the borehole or sees a formation that shows the presence of water.
Once the borehole is drilled and the well is constructed and sealed, we must then find a way to extract the water from the deep aquifer that lies below.
We do this by installing a hand pump that uses a variety of valves and seals inside
![A Living Water El Salvador driller stands in front of a drilling rig.](https://stories.water.cc/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/D602964-1024x576.jpg)
I encourage you to experience drilling on one of our Living Water Trips! You’ll never forget the moment water comes bursting out of the ground. There’s nothing like witnessing the joy that safe water brings to a community that’s waited so long for it.