Well, sort of. You want to get a good bit inside the waterbearing layer, and since that’s waterbearing, it tends to flow. And that makes the dirt on top of it collapse, which is makes even a stable slope slide down and kill you.
But it really doesn’t make sense to dig like this, because this is a LOT of digging to make what is in the end, a very narrow hole.
Normally you’d make a small hole, place a perforated tube inside, then get inside and start digging down. As you remove dirt from under the ring and inside the hole, the ring slides down, and the people on top extend it upwards. Then, ideally, you seal the bottom of the well with something like clay so your water doesn’t get too muddy, and you’re good to go!
Well, sort of. You want to get a good bit inside the waterbearing layer, and since that’s waterbearing, it tends to flow. And that makes the dirt on top of it collapse, which is makes even a stable slope slide down and kill you.
But it really doesn’t make sense to dig like this, because this is a LOT of digging to make what is in the end, a very narrow hole.
Normally you’d make a small hole, place a perforated tube inside, then get inside and start digging down. As you remove dirt from under the ring and inside the hole, the ring slides down, and the people on top extend it upwards. Then, ideally, you seal the bottom of the well with something like clay so your water doesn’t get too muddy, and you’re good to go!
Digging a tight pit is hard
Not to mention much more prone to collapse while people are digging it.