A small-diameter steel tube with a screened tip that is jetted or driven into water-bearing soil. Multiple wellpoints are connected to a header pipe and a vacuum pump to temporarily draw down the groundwater level, keeping deep excavations dry and stable during construction.
Heard on the job
The trench keeps filling with seepage, so we need to set up a wellpoint system before laying the sewer main.
Insider tip
A wellpoint system is only effective in permeable soils like sand or gravel; clay soils hold water too tightly for the vacuum to pull it out.