As far as open face wells they are not as uncommon as you think, many modern day farmers and large property owners have one for emergencies, usually it’s covered though with a metal or wood plate and only sits about 3-6 in. off the ground. Heck I’ve got one at my place for emergencies in case of power and water failures, but then again my house is in the boonies where a power outage or water pump failure might take a week maybe more to repair pending weather conditions.
Also the big reason I wouldn’t want to add electric water pumps is because it would be a massive job for a single person to do by himself especially in a hostile environment. Even without a drill being old old school and digging the well yourself to a 30ft depth you can do it in a week or two if you devote yourself to it, building everything for an electric well your looking at months.
As far as monsters I’ve been mulling around the idea of like mud based slime monsters, mutant leeches, and giant insects that may come out when you haul the bucket up but you could prevent giant insects by covering the top of the well.
