By:

Arun Kumar Sharma (R040206014)

Atish Pokhriyal (R040206016)
The initial investment for a properly designed and
constructed well pays off by ensuring:
A reliable and sustainable water supply consistent
with your needs and the capability of the aquifer.
Good quality water that is free of sediment and
contaminants.
Increased life expectancy of the well.
Reduced operating and maintenance costs.
Ease of monitoring well performance.
Although you need to hire a drilling contractor to
design, drill and construct the well and choose the
appropriate materials, it is important for you to
know what is going on. You can then work with
the drilling contractor to ensure you get the well
design you need.
Choosing a Drilling Contractor

Choose a drilling contractor who has experience in
your area. Provincial regulation requires that they
have an approval to drill water wells. A list of
approval holders is available through Alberta
Environment. Either you or the drilling contractor
should complete a survey of existing wells in your
area. It will provide important information about:
Typical yields and water quality.
Which aquifer to tap into.
Trends in well construction methods.
Prior drilling success rates.
A drilling contractor cannot always determine in
advance the depth at which an adequate water
supply will be found. Neighboring wells offer some
guidance but not a definite assurance.

Choosing a Well Site


Your choice of well site will affect the safety and
performance of your well. As you examine various
sites, remember to consider any future development
plans for your farm or acreage such as barns,
storage sheds and bulk fuel tanks. You must also
consider provincial regulations that dictate well
location. Most contaminants enter the well either
through the top or around the outside of the casing.
Sewage or other contaminants may percolate down
through the upper layers of the ground surface to
the aquifer. The following criteria are intended to
prevent possible contamination of your well and the
aquifer. It is both your and the drillers
responsibility to ensure that:

The well is accessible for cleaning, testing,
monitoring, maintenance and repair
The ground surrounding the well is sloped away
from the well to prevent any surface run off from
collecting or ponding
The well is up-slope and as far as possible from
potential contamination sources such as septic
systems, barnyards or surface water bodies
The well is not housed in any building other than a
bona fide pump house. The pump house must be
properly vented to the outside to prevent any
buildup of dangerous naturally occurring gases
The well is not located in a well pit.
Provincial regulations outline specific drilling and
construction requirements as well as licensing
procedures for groundwater diversion and use.

Minimum distance requirements

Provincial regulations outline minimum distance
requirements as follows. Equivalent imperial
distances in feet are rounded up to nearest foot.
The well must be:
10 m (33 ft.) from a watertight septic tank
15 m (50 ft.) from a sub-surface weeping tile
effluent disposal field or evaporation mound.
50 m (165 ft.) from sewage effluent discharge to the
ground .
100 m (329 ft.) from a sewage lagoon.
50 m (165 ft.) from above-ground fuel storage tanks
3.25 m (11 ft.) from existing buildings.
2 m (7 ft.) from overhead power lines if:
the line conductors are insulated or weatherproofed
and the line is operated at 750 volts or less.

6 m (20 ft.) from overhead power lines if the well:
does not have a pipe and sucker rod pumping
system .
has a PVC or non-conducting pipe pumping system
has well casing sections no greater than 7 m (23 ft.)
in length
12 m (40 ft.) from overhead power lines for all other
well constructions
500 m (1,641 ft.) from a sanitary landfill, modified
sanitary landfill or dry waste site.
The installation of a leaching cesspool is no longer
permitted. It is, however, highly recommended that
any newly constructed water well be located at least
30 m (100 ft.) from any existing leaching cesspool.
Well Design Considerations

Well design and construction details are determined
after a test hole has been completed and the
geological zones have been logged. There are many
components to well design the driller must take into
account. Decisions will be made about:
Well depth
Type of well
Casing material, size and wall thickness
Intake design
Formation seal
Monitoring and preventive maintenance provisions
Well depth

During the test hole drilling, the drilling contractor
will complete a formation log. Soil and rock samples
are taken at various depths and the type of geologic
material is recorded. This allows the driller to
identify aquifers with the best potential for water
supply. Some drillers also run an electric or
gamma-ray log in the test hole to further define the
geology. This gives them more accurate information
about aquifer location. Generally a well is
completed to the bottom of the aquifer. This allows
more of the aquifer to be utilized and ensures the
highest possible production from the well.


Types of wells

There are two main types of wells, each
distinguished by the diameter of the bore hole.
The two types are bored wells and drilled wells.

Bored wells

A bored well is constructed when low yielding
groundwater sources are found relatively close to the
surface, usually under 30 m (100 ft.). Bored wells are
constructed using a rotary bucket auger. They are
usually completed by perforating the casing or using a
sand screen with continuous slot openings (see Figure
1, Bored Well).

Drilled wells

Drilled wells are smaller in diameter, usually
ranging from 10-20 cm (4-8 in.), and completed to
much greater depths than bored wells, up to
several hundred meters. The producing aquifer is
generally less susceptible to pollution from surface
sources because of the depth. Also, the water
supply tends to be more reliable since it is less
affected by seasonal weather patterns.
There are two primary methods of drilling:
Rotary
Cable tool.

There are three types of possible well completions
for both drilling methods (see Figure 2, Well
Completions):

Surface casing with slotted or perforated liner
Sand screen with continuous slot openings
Single string slotted or perforated casing
Casing size and type

Decisions about the diameter and type of well
casing are made after the driller considers the
following:
Aquifer characteristics
Hydraulic factors that influence well performance
Drilling method
Well depth
Cost (in discussion with the well owner).
The casing must be large enough to house the
pump and allow sufficient clearance for installation
and efficient operation.


Placement in the aquifer

The screen or perforations on the casing/liner must
be placed adjacent to the aquifer. If improperly
placed, the well may produce fine sediment which
will plug plumbing fixtures and cause excessive
wear on the pump. If the driller uses geophysical
logging equipment to accurately identify the
boundaries of the aquifer, the exact placement will
be easier.

Annulus seal

Sealing the well protects the wells producing zone
from contamination. The diameter of the bore hole
is usually slightly larger than the casing being
installed. The space between the bore hole and the
casing is called the annulus of the well. It must be
sealed to prevent any surface

contamination from migrating downward and
contaminating the water supply. It also prevents
any mixing of poor quality aquifers with the
producing aquifer of the well. Provincial regulations
require the annulus be filled with impervious
material such as cement or bentonite.
To isolate the producing zone of the
well, the annulus is filled from immediately above
the perforated zone to the ground surface.

Well Completion

Once the well has been drilled and the equipment is
in place, there are several procedures the drilling
contractor must complete before the well is ready to
use. The drilling contractor is responsible for:
Well development
Disinfecting the well
Conducting a yield test.

Well development

Well development is the process of removing fine
sediment and drilling fluid from the area
immediately surrounding the perforations. This
increases the wells ability to produce water and
maximize production from the aquifer. Jetting,
surging, backwashing and over pumping are
methods used to develop a well.
Water or air is surged back and forth through the
perforations. Any fine materials that are in the
formation become dislodged and are pumped or
bailed from the well. This procedure is continued
until no fine particles remain and the water is clear.
Coarser particles are left behind to form a natural
filter pack around the screen, slot openings or
perforations.


If the aquifer formation does not naturally have any
relatively coarse particles to form a filter, it may be
necessary to install an artificial filter pack. The
pack is placed around the screen or perforations so
the well can be developed. For example, this
procedure is necessary when the aquifer is
composed of fine sand and the individual grains are
uniform in size. It is important to match the grain
size of the filter material with the size of the slot
openings of the screen to attain maximum yield
from the well. Typically the slot size of the screen is
selected so that 85 percent of the artificial pack
material remains outside of the screen

Yield test

A yield test, often called a pump test, is important
because the information gathered during the test
assists the drilling contractor to determine the:
Rate at which to pump the well
Depth at which to place the pump.
Provincial regulations outline the minimum yield
test for all new wells. After drilling and developing a
well, the drilling contractor must remove water from
the well for at least 2 hours. If a pump is used to
remove the water, then water level measurements
can be recorded as the water level draws down.
After 2 hours, water removal stops and the recovery
of the water level is monitored and recorded.
Measurements must be taken at specific time
intervals for a 2 hour period or until the water level
returns to 90 percent of its original level
Once the yield test is complete, the drilling
contractor will decide at what rate the aquifer can
be pumped without lowering the water level below
the top boundary of the aquifer, the top of the
perforations or below the pump intake. The pump
that is installed in the well should have a capacity
equal to, or less than, the rate at which the well can
supply water for an extended period of time without
lowering the level below the pump intake. That rate
is considered the safe pumping rate for the well

The yield test provides a benchmark of your well's
performance. Repeating this test at a later date can
be used to assess any changing conditions of the
well and determine when maintenance is required

Disinfecting the well

Provincial regulations require the drilling contractor
to disinfect new wells with chlorine.
The concentration is calculated on the volume of
water that is in the well. The concentration must be
at least 200 milligrams of chlorine per litre of water
present throughout the water in the well and must
be left in the well for at least 12 hours to ensure
any bacteria present are destroyed. Chlorination is
done after the pumping equipment is installed and
before the well is put into production. The yield test
provides a benchmark of your well's performance.
Repeating this test at a later date can be used to
assess any changing conditions of the well and
determine when maintenance is required