With drilling equipment costs likely to increase in 2014 and beyond, contractors need cost effective solutions and alternatives to ensure that they have the right machine for the job without breaking the bank.
In my last column, I talked at some length about selecting screen openings and then ended up by describing one installation method: just driving a pointed screen into a water-bearing formation. Now, I am aware that in this day and age many screens are either threaded or glued directly to the bottom of the casing in a rotary hole. This certainly works, but if the screen has the wrong openings or fails for some other reason either at installation or later, it is impossible to pull. I’m going to limit my comments to screens that can be pulled and would be used in a cable tool or hollow rod drilled well.
Sue Luft knows first-hand about the problems that occur when a community’s well demands for water far exceed the amount of available water. The Paso Robles, Calif. vineyard owner has faced water shortages due to acutely stressed wells in her area and it has seriously impacted her livelihood.
Several years ago, I wrote an article about drop pipe: the pipe that connects to a submersible pump and carries the well water to the well head. In that article, I focused on plastic drop pipe, both rigid PVC and semi-flexible HDPE (poly pipe), describing the pros and cons of each and the load bearing capacity of the various sizes.
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