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Education & Information

Education & Information

Briody Well Drilling Ltd have endeavoured to present a website that is professional,clearly sets out our scope of specialist drilling services and expertise and in particular that offers education and information to an audience less familiar with the drilling industry in Ireland.Therefore groundwater development in Ireland,groundwater quality & treatment,practical steps to prevent pollution of wells,well head finish & disinfection and decommissioning redundant boreholes are all very relevant topics that the reader should be familiar with as the peruse groundwater as a potable water source for their requirement or for general information purposes. In addition they should be aware of the IGI Guidelines for private water wells and how to conduct basic pumping tests of a well to prove its output capacity. Perhaps the reader is eligible to a private well grant,assistance to apply for this Grant are available to download in the relevant link below... County Council administered Private Well Grant Information. Finally information on geothermal activity is provided in this section and available to download as a pdf document in the relevant link below....Geothermal Training & Awareness Activity-An Insight.
 
Briody Well Drilling Ltd will continue to add to the selection of Information & Educational topics available to download,we will aim to keep the message simple,clear and concise. We would welcome your suggestions by email at our Contact Us page for any drilling & groundwater topics that you consider warrant inclusion to our current menu.   

All documents are provided in PDF format. If you do not already have the Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your machine feel free to download it below. If you do not wish to download the documents to view, please use a laptop instead of a mobile phone.

 

An Introduction to Well Drilling in Ireland


Engineers in Ireland may wish to avail of a 1 hour presentation on "An Introduction to Well Drilling in Ireland" by Padraig Briody.IEI logo
This presentation is eligible for 1 hour CPD Training for 2015 by Engineers Ireland. The presentation covers a range of drilling related topics including ;
 

  1.  Analyse the basic components of the Drilling Equipment & materials & to undertake drilling of a water well & geothermal well. Also an outline of the drilling process from site survey stage to Rig set-up to borehole drilling & development to well capping & completion.
     

  2. Examine best practices to undertake water well drilling in Ireland by reference to Institute of Geologists of Ireland" Water Well Guidelines"(March,2007) and the Environmental Protection Agency Advice Note No. 14 "Borehole Construction & Wellhead Protection" (September 2013).
     

  3. Explore the techniques and equipment required for borehole grouting.
     

  4. Outline the role and importance of geology assessment & hydrogeology on a drilling Project.
     

  5. Explain the essential role of the Lead Driller in delivering a successful drilling Project by reference to their required knowledge, skills and competence.
     

  6. Explain the fundamentals of geothermal drilling from a drilling perspective. And consider the fundamentals of well rehabilitation to improve well efficiency and sustainability.



IGI Private Water Well Guidelines - Summary Notes


(Please refer to a laptop to view above pdf.)

Two documents within the IGI Guidelines are concerned with the construction, testing and decommissioning of water wells. They draw on standard and guidance notes from other countries;
Explaining Groundwater and Water Wells outlines the basic principles behind constructing and operating a borehole as a sustainable source of high quality water.

Water Well Construction Guidelines deals with the location, testing, sampling and sealing (decommissioning) of wells. It is written for well owners, well drillers, engineers, planners, architects and anyone else concerned as a practitioner or customer.



Geothermal Training & Awareness Activity - Irish Context


(Please refer to a laptop to view above pdf.)

The Geothermal Association of Ireland (GAI) was formed as a not for profit association in 1998 to promote the development of geothermal energy in all its forms in Ireland. Geotrainet project is supported by the European Commission: IEE programme – Altener, to establish a European training framework for GSHP(Ground Source Heat Pumps) designers and drillers. Both these initiatives represent efforts to improve standards and awareness of the geothermal drilling & heat pump market in Ireland.



Background to Groundwater Development in Ireland


(Please refer to a laptop to view above pdf.)

Groundwater is a major natural resource in Ireland providing between 25%-30% of drinking water supplies. Certain countries, particularly in the Midlands, the proportion of groundwater abstraction is much greater, e.g. Roscommon 86%, Laois 54%, Kilkenny 52% and Wexford 40%. Estimates suggest there are some 40-50 Well Drilling Companies/Sole Traders operating in the Republic drilling an estimated 5,000-7000 new wells each year.

Over a period of  35 years,current estimates suggest  some 180,000 to 250,000 wells have been drilled over that timescale. The industry is self regulated and standards of well drilling & construction will vary. This has resulted in varying quality standards of well drilling and construction and of course this will have  a direct knock-on effect  on groundwater quality and groundwater protection measures.



Groundwater Quality & Water Treatment


(Please refer to a laptop to view above pdf.)

Groundwater pollution risk depends on the interaction between:

a) The natural vulnerability of the groundwater.
b) The pollution loading that is, or will be, applied to the subsurface environment as a result of human activity.

The EPA in conjunction with GSI and Department of the environment have issued a publication entitled: Groundwater Protection Schemes which provides guidelines for planning and licensing authorities to establish a framework to assist decision making on location, nature and control developments and activities in order to protect Groundwater.



Pumping Tests


(Please refer to a laptop to view above pdf.)

Pumping Tests:

The following is a summary outline procedure for a pumping test:-

1.Assessment and interpretation of all available data prior to a pumping test.
2.Preliminary pump test.
3.STEP TEST; From the results of the preliminary test, a pump of suitable capacity can be chosen for the STEP TEST and appropriate pumping rates decided on.
4. CONSTANT RATE TEST: An adequate period needs to be determined to pump test a well provided that the constant rate can be maintained without interruption for this period.

Records of pumping test results should be accurately logged throughout all pumping test procedures and referenced and filed appropriately.



Practical Steps to Prevent Pollution of Wells


(Please refer to a laptop to view above pdf.)

Practical pollution prevention measures depend on a variety of factors, as described below:- understanding your well, (public awareness & education) vulnerability assessments, hazard surveys to achieve proper siting of wells. In addition, monitoring of well water quality, assessments of water quality data, well construction techniques, well sealing/sanitary protection and well disinfection ...all contribute to practical pollution prevention measures.



Well Head Finish, Well Disinfection & Taking a Water Sample


(Please refer to a laptop to view above pdf.)

Good advice on well head finish construction is given in Briody (1995, Manhole Construction, IAH Conference Paper), Ball (1995, IAH Conference Paper) and NSAI (1992). A borehole is one of  the most important features of a house which is not a governed by any regulations or standards (Wright, 1995; Ball, 2000).Practical guidelines are issued for well head finish,regular well disinfection and retrieval of water samples for water analysis.



Decommissioning Redundant Boreholes


(Please refer to a laptop to view above pdf.)

Boreholes and wells which are no longer required need to be made safe, structurally stable and backfilled and sealed to prevent groundwater pollution and flow of groundwater between aquifer units.

For best results to decommission redundant boreholes, it is important to employ a competent Well Drilling Contractor with a good knowledge of the geology, access to the relevant borehole log for decommissioning and competency in well abandonment procedures.



Private Well Grant Information


(Please refer to a laptop to view above pdf.)

Briody Well Drilling Ltd are happy to issue information as a result general queries, which have arisen with the introduction of: private Well Grant for the provision or necessary improvement of an individual water supply to a Dwelling house.

The information is believed to be correct but this cannot be guaranteed. Opinions constitute our judgement, which are subject to change and should not be relied upon - you should form your own opinion about any action and take appropriate advice.