Dwarf Fortress: How to Get Water (2024)

Water is an essential resource in Dwarf Fortress and having enough supply is key to making your colony thrive.

However, it’s hard to find water within your base and most times you won’t have a water supply outside at a close location. Therefore, you’ll be forced to look for alternative and more convenient ways to get water.

In this guide, I will explain how to get water from caverns and rivers in Dwarf Fortress to help you build the most successful colony.

How to Dig Down and Find Caverns in Dwarf Fortress

The main way to find caverns in the game is by mining. From the bottom hotbar, select the pickaxe icon and start by digging one floor down.

There, build a small room with a door to make sure trolls, frogs, and other monsters can’t spawn in the caves and reach your base. Then, select the staircase from the bottom hotbar and go straight down.

Start by digging down to elevation 5. After digging down for a while, you will get a pop-up saying “you have discovered an expansive cavern deep underground”.

Digging down can seem complicated. For more details on how to dig down in Dwarf Fortress, consider checking out our relevant guide.

Within the cavern, you will be able to find materials like wood, mud, spider webs, and of course water.

Keep in mind that monsters can roam these caverns, so it’s a good idea to bring some defensive units with you.

How to Build a Well and Get Water in Dwarf Fortress

Now that you’ve found a source of water underground, select one tile of water within the newly-found cavern and go all the way up, until you reach your base without moving your cursor.

Mark that exact tile and get ready to start mining.

From your base, dig a straight path to the tile you just marked. On the marked tile, use the “Dig a channel” option, which will create a hole down to the water level. Then, right next to that, build a staircase.

To build a well in the game, you will need a bucket and a chain or rope. Thankfully, these are easy to make. Specifically, buckets can be made from wood, while ropes are crafted at clothing shops.

With the staircase and channel completed, you can now place a well on top of the newly-built hole.

How to Get Water From a River in Dwarf Fortress

If you’re lucky enough to have a river near your fortress, there is an easier way of getting water.

Start by digging below your base and creating a small area where the water will be. After digging a small area (even a 3×3 will do), make it one level deeper to hold the water.

Then, from the area you just dug, make an underground path leading next to the river (about 2 tiles away from it).

When you’re two tiles away from the river, build a staircase going up, until you reach the same level as the river.

Do not connect the river with your staircase yet, since this will flood your fortress.

Instead, at the underground path you built, make sure to place a bridge. Go to the building tab, then construction, then select Bridge.

Make sure to place it the right way so that it blocks water from coming from the river.

Now that you’ve built the bridge, place a lever inside your base, select ‘Link Lever’ and then choose the bridge.

This way, you’ll be able to control the bridge. Pull the lever to ensure the bridge is up and the path is blocked.

Lastly, dig a channel from the river to your staircase and the water will start flowing through.

The hold you dug will start filling with water slowly. When one tile reaches water level 7, turn the lever off to avoid flooding your base.

Dig a hole next to the upper staircase and place a well in your base.

And that’s it! Now your dwarves have access to fresh water that won’t freeze during the winter.

Conclusion

To sum up, that’s everything you need to know on how to get water through the caverns in Dwarf Fortress. Dig down until you find a cavern with water, link the water with your base via a hole, and then build a well on that hole to transfer the water.

This way, you’ll always have a fresh supply of water at your base and your dwarves can focus on other resources and tasks.

How far down did you have to dig to find water? Did you encounter any enemies in the caverns? Let us know in the comments below.