About a month ago, I shared a quick update on the artesian well near Moonville in rural Madison County. It had mysteriously stopped flowing. That little roadside spring has been a constant for as long as I can remember, always gurgling away no matter the season. I was flying past it a few weeks ago when I caught the unmistakable shimmer of water out of the corner of my eye. SKREEEEET! There went my brake pads.
I’d been hearing some troubling whispers on social media that Moonville’s flowing well had gone dry for about a year, that water had stopped burbling out altogether. Naturally, I was curious. Late last February, I checked it out and found that the rumors were partly true. The familiar geyser from the well’s casing was gone, but water still trickled down the hillside to feed Moon Branch.
Still, the development was alarming to me. When things are working as they should, artesian wells flow all on their own with no pump required. They’re simple but fascinating pieces of geology: wells tap into a pressurized aquifer, usually beneath a valley, where the water rises to what’s called the piezometric surface. If the conditions are just right, the water flows freely to the surface like a natural fountain.
Unfortunately, something wasn’t quite right out in Moonville. I’m not sure what caused the change- maybe the old pipe had cracked, or perhaps it had gotten clogged up with sediment, rust, or even roots that had wormed their way inside over the years. Whatever the culprit, the water no longer surged up from the casing like it used to.
That’s what made it so surprising to find that it was flowing again! It’s no longer a geyser, but there it was- water flowing up and over the rim of the well like nothing had ever happened. There was no fanfare or explanation, just the sight of the well quietly doing its thing again! Seeing the Moonville well felt like running into an old friend who suddenly showed up out of the blue.
If you’ve ever had a spot like that -somewhere that’s not really that important but still means something to you- you’ll get it. I didn’t even realize how much I missed the Moonville well until it came back to life. Now, one question remains: which one of you guys got it to flow again?
