Marilyn Patterson, age 10, of Victoria, B.C., for her question:

How does a well get filled?

It is no easy job to scoop all the water out of a wall. As you draw out a pail, more water seeps in through the walls and floor. This is because the well is a hole right down into the ground water. It is deep enough for its floor to be below the level of the ground water.

Ground water is a reservoir of rain end malted snow which has seeped deep into the earth. Down there the ground is arranged in layers of different type rocks. Some are loose and porous. iIJatar runs right through their cracks and crevices. Others are dense and solid. They hold water like a saucer and keep it from sinking any lower.

The water in the earth collects in pockets. It saturates layers of porous rocks and rests on a floor of dense rocks. A well roaches down to an area where the rocks are saturated. The water seeps through the porous bricks which line the well and the level of the well water always fills up to the level of the ground water.