Many years ago, I purchased a home in a rural area knowing the necessity of a new well for good quality water, as the existing well water was very brackish. With that knowledge, I negotiated with a well drilling contractor who was to be paid ‘by-the-foot’ drilled and the well casing to be paid for ‘by-the-foot’ installed. The contractor agreed to drill a 6 inch well as long as I chose, and install well casing as deep as I chose.
After drilling for some 45 feet, the well drilling contractor wanted to install a well casing and to end the well casing at that point. The contractor assured me that it was rock and he would guarantee that there would be no surface water. With that guarantee, I agreed to allow him to case the well at 45 feet. We continued to drill and by hitting a large quantity of good water at approximately 84 feet down. I instructed the contractor to continue to drill until 124 feet deep before stopping.
During the first rain, I started getting very muddy water. The well drilling contractor refused to correct the problem. I called the NC Dept. of Natural Resources, Well Water Division, who offered to come to my home location and evaluate the problem.
Using an X-Ray type instrument to be lowered down the well itself and a television type appliance attached to the instrument by a cable, the specialist was able to allow the appliance sketch an image as to where the surface ground (muddy) water was coming into my well and as to where the slate rock level was. With that information, the NC Dept. of Natural Resources called the well drilling contractor and instructed him as to how and what was required to fix the problem and furthermore to complete the remedy immediately.
The solution was to purchase a 4-inch well liner with an external collar attached to the liner on one end, insert the collar end in down first, into the existing 6-inch well casing down to the total depth of some 60 feet, and fill the space between the existing 6-inch casing and the 4-inch liner with concrete. With that, the well with a large quantity of very good well water was corrected.
Example for a possible solution to capping the oil spill: News reports state the oil line pipe is 21-inch in diameter. Place an approximately 29-inch in diameter pipe with one end having a screwed coupling welded on one end, and an internal collar on the other end reducing down and onto the 21-inch diameter pipe. With the 29-inch in place over the 21-inch pipe, attach the 29-inch pipe with the 21-inch collar to the existing 21-inch oil pipe (welded, bolted, strapped, etc.) and filled with concrete between the two differences between. Then, you can screw additional pipe to the newly installed 29-inch pipe, reduce it back to 21-inch again, and flow the oil so as to recover all of the oil and distribute it to refineries for market.
Oscar Y. Harward
No comments:
Post a Comment