Glossary
Water Well Driller Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential water well driller terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key water well driller vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in water well driller training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Aquifer
- Underground layer holding water.
- Bentonite
- Clay used for sealing.
- Cable tool
- A percussion drilling method.
- Casing
- Pipe that lines a well.
- Cuttings
- Rock and soil brought up by drilling.
- Development
- Cleaning a new well.
- Drawdown
- Water level drop while pumping.
- Geothermal loop
- Pipe for heat pump systems.
- Grout
- Seals the space around casing.
- Pitless adapter
- Connects a well to a buried line.
- Screen
- A filter that lets water in.
- Static water level
- Water level when not pumping.
- Submersible pump
- A pump inside the well.
- Well log
- Record of materials drilled.
- Yield
- Gallons per minute a well produces.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Water Well Driller practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Water Well Driller training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.