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Reading passage Grade 4 Careers & CTE

Digging for Water: A Well Driller's Day in Dry Prairie Vale

A grade 4 reading passage about a well driller who brings groundwater to a dry town, with six comprehension questions and an answer key.

Objectives

  1. Students will identify where a dry town gets its water and how a well driller works.
  2. Students will explain why a dry community drills wells to reach groundwater.

Vocabulary

Groundwater
Groundwater is water that has soaked into the ground and fills the spaces between soil particles and cracks in rock underground. It is a large underground source of fresh water that wells and springs draw from.
Aquifer
An aquifer is an underground layer of rock, sand, or gravel that holds water in the tiny spaces between its grains. Wells reach down into aquifers to bring water up to the surface.

Also: well, drill, casing

Teacher overview

This passage introduces a lesser-known water-sector job, the well driller. It follows Dana Cruz, a driller in the dry town of Prairie Vale, and explains where groundwater comes from and how a well reaches it. The passage supports a lesson on groundwater and on how a dry community adapts to get the water it needs.

Digging for Water: A Well Driller's Day in Dry Prairie Vale — Grade 4 Careers & CTE
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Passage

Prairie Vale is a dry town. There is no big river nearby. Rain does not fall often. Yet the homes and farms in Prairie Vale still have water. That water comes from deep under the ground, and Dana Cruz helps bring it up.

Dana is a well driller. Her job is to reach groundwater and build a well. Groundwater is water that sits under the ground. When rain and melting snow soak into the soil, the water keeps sinking. It fills the tiny spaces between grains of sand, gravel, and rock. A layer of ground that is full of water is called an aquifer. Dana's well must reach the aquifer to find water.

To drill a well, Dana brings a large truck with a tall drill on the back. A sharp drill bit spins and cuts down through soil and rock. Some wells go down more than 100 feet before the bit reaches the wet layer. When the drill finally reaches the aquifer, water begins to seep into the hole.

Next, Dana lowers a strong pipe into the hole. This pipe is called a casing. It keeps the walls of the well from falling in. Then Dana puts a pump inside the well. The pump lifts the water up to the surface. Last, Dana caps the top of the well so that dirt and bugs cannot get in.

Before people drink the water, Dana fills a bottle with a sample. She sends the sample to a lab. The lab checks that the water is safe. Dana also checks how fast the well can give water. A good well gives enough water for a home or a farm every day.

Without wells, Prairie Vale could not have homes and farms in such a dry place. Dana's work lets a whole town live where there is no river. That is why a well driller is an important water-sector job.

Questions

  1. Where do the homes and farms in Prairie Vale get their water?
  2. What is groundwater, according to the passage?
  3. Name two things Dana does to build a well after she starts drilling.
  4. Why do people in Prairie Vale use wells instead of a river? Use details from the passage.
  5. The passage uses the word "aquifer." What is an aquifer, and why must Dana's drill reach it?
  6. Why is testing the water an important part of Dana's job?

From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.

Answer Key
  1. Answer: From deep under the ground, as groundwater brought up through wells. The passage says Prairie Vale has no big river, so its water comes from below the ground.
  2. Answer: Water that sits under the ground in the tiny spaces between grains of sand, gravel, and rock, which fills up when rain and melting snow soak in.
  3. Answer: Any two of: lowering a casing pipe into the hole, putting a pump in the well, capping the top of the well, or taking a water sample to test.
  4. Answer: Because Prairie Vale is dry and has no big river nearby, so the people adapt by drilling wells to reach the groundwater under them instead. The passage's first paragraph supports this.
  5. Answer: An aquifer is a layer of ground that is full of water. Dana's drill must reach it because that is where the water is, so the well cannot give water until it reaches the aquifer.
  6. Answer: Because the test shows whether the water is safe to drink before people use it; Dana sends a sample to a lab to be sure the well water is clean.

Differentiation

Support

Provide a simple labeled diagram of a well (ground surface, casing pipe, pump, and the aquifer at the bottom) for students to look at while they read. Allow questions 1, 2, and 3 to be answered with short phrases or by pointing to the diagram.

Extension

Ask students to use only the passage to explain what might happen to Prairie Vale if the aquifer under the town ran low on water, and to name one thing the town could do about it.

ELL supports

Pre-teach "groundwater," "aquifer," "well," and "casing" with the labeled diagram and a short definition for each. Read the passage aloud once before students answer, and allow the literal questions to be answered with single words or phrases.