This study compares three alternative ground water technologies in terms of their economic and social appropriateness for Bangladesh. A modified form of social cost-benefit analysis is applied to the three technologies : hand pump tubewells, shallow tubewells (0.5 cusec) and deep tubewells (2 cusec). The methodology is limited to costs which means that the results can be used for ranking purposes only. The calculation of standard unit costs is subject to sensitivity tests on the price for unskilled labour (pumping), the value of foreign exchange, the lifetime of capital goods and variations in command areas. The results emphasize the economic dominance of power pumping technology when labour is shadow priced at one-half or less of the current wage. The ranking of technologies is also not at all sensitive to the price of foreign exchange. The report emphasizes that attention needs to be paid to institutional-social questions as well as the technical considerations in order to avoid selecting a technology which has no potential for productivity increases.