20 August 2009

Interesting Water Well


This interesting water well was spotted at Panama village, South East of Sri Lanka (pronounced as paːnəmə). This simple but effective lever mechanism, used in the well is known as ‘Aandiya’ Linda (well). The weight of the cross bar is nicely balanced to draw a bucket full of water effortlessly from the deep well.

23 comments:

Nicole said...

We have similar looking ones here in Hungary.
:D
I never knew they are over in Sri Lanka as well.
I'll post one in the coming days (hope I won't forget).

Kirigalpoththa said...

Nicole,
That is nice to know :)
Infact this is the first time I saw one in Sri Lanka. But I have heard similar ones are there in Jaffna too (North of Sri Lanka)
Thanks for your comments!

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Hi K, That is an interesting well... I assume it is still in use. Most of the wells I've seen are old ones no longer in use.

Neat photo.
Betsy

rainfield61 said...

We use only a pail to bring water up from the well.

sbarrkum said...

Pretty sure its Aandi Linda (note n).

Not sure why aandi, because I think that means gypsy. e.g. the story "Aandi hath denage kanda haliya wage", the seven gypsies and the bowl of porridge.

In Tamil I think it means saint or wandering beggar/mendicant.

poefusion said...

That's the most unique apparatus I've seen to get water from a well. Pretty cool. Have a great night.

Rajesh said...

Is definitely interesting. I have never seen such a well before. One I had seen is the lever is right on top of the well.

Kirigalpoththa said...

Betsy,
Yes this and a few more I saw in this village are still operational.

Rainfield,
In Sri Lankan villages most of the houses have atleast one well. In shallow wells (Mainly close to paddy fields) we use just the pail. So water well is a common thing but this particular one in the picture is a rarity.

Sbarrkum,
I corrected the 'n'. Yes it should have the 'sanyaka DI yanna':)
I couldnt find the origin behind the name Aandi and to link it with the already known porridge story. May be this apparatus was first found or introduced by wandering gypsies.
Thanks for enlightening me on that.:)

Michelle,
Yep, it is quite unique yet effective apparatus if the water level is quite deep.

Rajesh,
Usually Sri Lankan water wells have simple pulley mechanisms fixed right on top of the well. I think it is common in India too.

Thanks all for your comments!

Harshi said...

I've seen these wells on TV but not for real. Good to see a one again after a long time.

Amila Salgado said...

Well captured!

Kirigalpoththa said...

Gallicissa,
You are 'well'come ;)

Harumi,
This is the first time I saw one for real :)

Thanks both of you for comments!

George said...

What a great picture and a great illustration of the practical application of physics! I've seen a couple of old wells using the same principle over here, but none that are still in use. Thanks for sharing this with us.

Anonymous said...

I love to see the water well like this in your beautiful photo! It's so unique!

Gadgetgirl said...

I like they way the trees are standing beside it.

betchai said...

this reminds me of my childhood, where we had to get our water form a well.

Kirigalpoththa said...

George / Icy BC / Gadgetgirl / Betchai,

Thanks a lot for your comments!

Anonymous said...

nice knowing about this well...thanks for sharing!

Janith said...

nice lever system... a very efficient way to get water out of the deep wells! I saw drawings of them on a school textbook once (the lesson was about a train journey to Jaffna!) but this is the first time I've seen a picture of one! :D

btw, I loooooove the new header! lovely! :D

Kirigalpoththa said...

Flyingstars,
You are welcome and thanks a lot for your comments!

Chavie,
I too remember the same text book reference with details of similar wells in Jaffna. Eversince I read it, I wanted to see one. I do not know whether we can still see them in Jaffna now.

Thanks a lot for the comments and glad you like the new header :)

Inday said...

The well methink of home. We survived with that water system in my youth.

Kirigalpoththa said...

Bonnie Bonsai,
Same here :) - We had only well water at my home town those days.
Thanks for sharing your experience

Buck said...

Some times simple is best! My father had a hand pump on his well, but it is 9 metres deep and would be hard to hand dip.

I love the photo - it says so much about the land.

Kirigalpoththa said...

Buck,
Yep 30 feet could be bit too much for a hand pump.
The photo shows some interesting facade of village life in Sri Lanka..
Thanks for your comments!