Man, having an entirely above-ground settlement is hard. How do I keep all my wells from freezing in the winter? My wells are all inside buildings and the channels leading to them are covered.
Oh, that's easy. Make an underground "well room." Since water that is underground never freezes, you want a chamber that is entirely above ground (to avoid cave adaptation issues) save for a single square which is underground (where you put your well).
designate a c
hanneled area, but leave one square in the middle unchanneled. When it's done, you should have a pit with a little mound in the middle. Then roof off the whole area INCLUDING the mound, building a staircase or something for accessibility. Finally, dig out the mound. Since it never "saw" sunlight, it is still "subterranean" You now have an underground room that won't cave-adapt your humies with a single tile where water won't freeze. Dig out your well on that square, leave a sizable cistern, and a floodgate to prevent flooding out the chamber (since it's below water level), and you'll have a nice little gathering hall.
I've been building above-ground forts for years, and this works like a charm.
Mind you, you need to get the water into the cistern in the first place, so you may have troubles in environments that are always frozen.
Some pictures if I wasn't clear...
Then, channel out the now underground square, stick in your cistern, plop the well on the hole there, and BOOM, a well that won't freeze in the wintertime.
Sorry for the last one, I just couldn't resist showing off my awesome city. ^_^