Well drillers in Texas are involved in many exciting new technologies that are helping to conserve dwindling water supplies, and American Water Surveyors is right there with them mapping out available water reserves.
Aquifer Storage Recovery (ASR) seems to be the buzzword for the well drilling industry. ASR is an extremely cost effective and environmentally sound practice to conserve the precious commodity that clean, potable water is becoming.
ASR is the storage of water in natural underground cavities during times when water is available, and the recovery of that water during times when it is needed. Sound simple? Maybe so, but the real problem for well drillers in Texas lies in locating suitable underground storage basins. Storage zones range in depths from as shallow as about 200 ft. to as deep as 2700 ft. That is almost the length of nine football fields standing end to end.
Water is stored in these deep underground water-bearing geologic formations or “aquifers” as they are called. These aquifers may be in sand, clay, sandstone, gravel, limestone, dolomite, glacial drift, basalt and other types of geologic settings. These various geologic formations each present unique drilling challenges.
Texas well drillers install the necessary pumps and equipment for the aquifer to receive the stored water. During times of plentiful water supply such as a heavy rain fall season, water is pumped underground into these aquifers. The water that is pumped in becomes the stored water. This stored water displaces the water naturally present in the aquifer, creating a very large bubble around the well. The bubble is usually, but not always, confined by overlying and underlying geologic formations that do not produce water. Storage volumes in these bubbles range from as small as about 13 million gallons in individual ASR wells, to as much as 2.5 billion gallons or more in large ASR well fields.
American Water Surveyors along with their GF 3500 technology is an invaluable resource for well drillers. Locating and mapping suitable aquifer basins ensures that drilling costs are not wasted. American Water Surveyors’ GF 3500 technology defines both the permeability and the depth of aquifers; such estimates can be obtained at an insignificant cost, especially when compared with the cost of drilling in several locations before finding suitable storage sites. Call American Water Surveyors today at 1-877-SEISMO1 (734-7661) or 1-817-788-5716 or email us at [email protected] to let us help you in your water sourcing needs.
