[Bjarn]

Uh. What the hell kind of sense does this make.

The reason you are able to get water from the well by using an empty bucket is because you are attaching the bucket to the mechanism that allows you to lower the bucket into the water. Considering that this is a major city, the fact that you can get as much water as you want from the well shouldn't be surprising, since a relatively large amount of fresh water is necessary to fuel a growing town.

The reason you can't just reach down and grab water is because wells are usually pretty deep pits. Unless you have stretchy extendo-arms, you can't reach.