posted 4 years ago
I am used to seeing the water above and below the confining layer referred to as surface water and ground water respectively. My understanding is that surface water will be more rapidly and dramatically affected by recent rainfall than ground water. This is more apparent with springs, where springs that only flow or flow much harder after recent rains are usually surface water, where springs that flow relatively consistently year round are typically groundwater. The non-flowing artesian well would be more difficult to assess than a spring, but for starters I would check the water level before and after a rainfall event and see if it fluctuated significantly.