1st Edition
Sustainable Wells Maintenance, Problem Prevention, and Rehabilitation
No one has recorded when well digging started, but surely humans imitated elephants in digging holes in the sand to access cooler water that didn’t make the children sick. Eventually, humankind began to redesign, maintain, and repair the wells they constructed, but when wells became "commodities" in the twentieth century, this maintenance ethic was fogotten. Recapturing that ethic, Sustainable Wells: Maintenance, Problem Prevention, and Rehabilitation is a guide to keeping well systems operating at peak capacity. The book focuses on how to prevent and forestall problems, and manage the problems with wells as they age.
Examining the many challenges that come with maintaining well performance, the book provides a comprehensive yet readable state-of-the-art summary of performance maintenance, problem prevention, and rehabilitation or restoration practice with the goal of sustaining optimal performance over the long run. Rather than focusing on a certain aspect of well cleaning, or a particular technical approach, it covers the scope of maintenance and rehabilitation, from planning to evaluation testing. It also addresses the crucial subjects of preventive design, maintenance monitoring from electrical to biofouling, and evaluation testing.
An exploration of the subject without a vendor or strong regional bias, the book is based on the authors’ extensive hands-on experience serving well-operating clientele. In addition to water supply wells, it addresses the problems and maintenance issues of monitoring, plume control, and other "environmental" wells. Compiling information from existing literature into a single source, and combining that information with experience, the book provides recommendations based on historical performance. Copiously illustrated with approximately ninety black and white photographs, figures, and a color insert, the book reflects the changes in the profession that have occurred during the past decade or so. These features and more make this the first resource to turn to when devising solutions for maintaining and improving well performance.
A Brief Colorful History of Well Maintenance and Rehabilitation and Their Milestones
Some History
The Role of the "Environmental" Sector in Shaping Well Rehabilitation and Maintenance
The Impact of Biology on Hydrogeology and Ground Water Technology
Economics, Human Skills, Personalities, Demographics and Other Issues
A Word About Terminology
Causes and Effects of Well Deterioration
Summary: Causes of Poor Performance
True Grit – Sand and Silt
Yield and Drawdown Problems
Chemical Incrustation
Corrosion
Plastic Deterioration
Biofouling – A Hitchhiker’s Guide to How Life Takes Over
Impacts on Treatment Plants
Engineering and Construction Aggravation of Clogging and Corrosion
Well Structural Deformation and Failure: Natural and Human-Caused
Disaster-Related Flooding
Management and Operational Overview
Economic Impacts of Well Deterioration
Identifying Costs of Well Deterioration
Asset Management and Life Cycle Cost
Assigning Economic Value
A Costly Example
Prevention Practice for Sustainable Wells
Prevention – Its Place in the Well Life Cycle
Interlude: Teeth and Motor Vehicles
Prevention: Design and Construction Considerations
Well Development
Preventing Contamination During Drilling, Well Construction, and Development
Preventive Pump Choices and Actions
Design Aspects: The "Cliff Notes" Version
A Note About Well Houses
Well Array Design Recommendations
A Developing World Note
Maintenance Monitoring Program for Wells
Maintenance Monitoring: Rationale for Instituting a Monitoring Program
Maintenance Procedures Overview
Implementing a Maintenance Program – It’s Institutional, Not Personal
Maintenance is Personal (and Personnel), Too
Maintenance Basics
A Maintenance Monitoring Protocol for Wells
Recommended Testing and Information Monitoring Methods
Summary of Recommendations for Maintenance Monitoring in Routine Practice
Schedule of Maintenance Monitoring Actions for Wells
Institutional and Funding Issues in Maintenance Planning, Analysis and Execution
Preventive Treatments and Actions
Sand/Sediment Pumping
What Do We Do if We Have Corrosion?
Biofouling (General)
Inorganic Incrustations (General)
Preventive Chemical Treatments
Mechanical Agitation and Augmentation
Chemical Emplacement
Chemical Removal and Recovery
In-Situ Maintenance Treatments
Further Procedural Considerations
Health and Safety Concerns
Costs and Time of Routine Preventive Measures
Rehabilitation and Reconstruction
Decisions on Rehabilitation Methods: After Things Go Wrong
Management and Safety in Well Rehabilitation
Consultants and Contractors: Avoiding Trouble in Working Together
Well Rehabilitation: Decision-Making on Methods
Specifications for Rehabilitation
The Role of Consultant Specifier-Observer
Rehabilitation Methods: Technical Descriptions
Physical Agitation
The Pharmacopoeia: Chemical Use in Rehabilitation
Blended Method Treatments
Application of Rehabilitation Methods Summary
Post-Treatment After Well Rehabilitation
Some Follow-Up "Truisms"
Learning and Going Forward
Learning from the Past
Where Do We Go from Here?
Biography
Stuart A. Smith, Allen E. Comeskey
