WorldWide Drilling Resource

58 NOVEMBER 2015 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® Drilling Industry Rescues a Water Well in Ethiopia Adapted from a Press Release by Design Water Technologies a division of Jet-Lube Earlier this year, U.S. drilling industry mem- bers and two Christian charities donated equip- ment, supplies, and expertise to rehabilitate and return a partially-blocked primary water well to full ca- pacity in Sendafa, Ethiopia. The nondenominational Living Word Community Church (LWCC) in Red Lion, Pennsylvania, funded the $45,000 venture, which would have cost upwards of $65,000 without donations of supplies and expertise from drilling industry donors. It was the first environ- mentally-friendly treatment of a mineral-blocked well in Ethiopia and possibly the first water well rehabilitation project of its kind in Africa, according to officials. Well rehabilitation included safely dissolving away accumulated mineral solids and iron-eating bacteria adhered to the submersible 25-horsepower pump and the interior of the 1082 feet of HDPE (high-density polyethylene) 3-inch pipe of the screen-style water well. The successful mission increased the well's output, eliminating the long wait residents endured to fill water containers, according to John Hilliard, global missions director of LWCC, which adopted the town nine years ago and built the $78,000 water well six years ago to provide more plentiful and safer water. Jim Honeycutt, volunteer engineer at faith-based safe drinking water charity, Water Missions International (WMI), of Charleston, South Carolina, coordinated LWCC with Design Water Technologies - a division of Jet-Lube; and David Powell, president of Pennsylvania-based Edward Powell Pump & Well and the nonprofit charity, Wells For Relief International. Powell donated full consulting services and Design Water Technologies partially donated its noncorrosive and nontoxic Unicid Catalyst provided through the West Columbia, South Carolina, branch of water/oil drilling wholesaler, Drillers Service. The work was coordinated through the Sendafa Water Supply and Sewerage Enterprise (SWSSE), the local government water authority. Preparation began in the U.S. with testing and analysis of water and pipe accumulation samples by WMI and Powell, who consulted local drilling contractor, Hydro Construction and Engineering Services Ltd., Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, throughout the project. Powell and Honeycutt began site work by renting a 4490-gallon tanker truck to store water for townspeople during the well's shutdown. After pulling and bathing the pump and its 180-foot electrical cable for several days, Powell and Hydro Construction's Project Manager Kefyalew Tilahun fabricated air lifting diverters and a custom-sized brush to clean the pipe and five sections of 19-foot well screens. Air lifting the well preceded, an application of 16 gallons of Unicid Catalyst mixed with 170 pounds of Unicid granular, a noncorrosive, safe, and environmentally-friendly organic acid alternative. Unicid doesn't contaminate aquifers; and a remaining supply will be applied period- ically to prevent future mineral accumulations. The well's increased water volume is part of a long-term plan to enable a recently-built $63,000, 58,219-gallon aboveground reservoir to operate at full capacity to provide optimum water sanitizing. Previously, the well didn't have the volume to fill the reservoir and 4000 homes with indoor plumbing. "LWCC also funded the well six years ago, because we discovered a high percentage of Sendafa resident illnesses were drinking- water related,” said Hilliard, whose church ministers an array of volunteer serv- ices for Sendafa. Rehabbing the well was not easy. An unknown deviation challenged the effort and created the potential of permanently jamming the cleaning brush or surge block inside the well. "The pipe (deviation) initially endangered the project's completion, but we believe persistence, prayer, and divine intervention truly created a miracle," said Powell, who has donated his industry expertise to dozens of safe drinking water projects in Ghana the last decade. “To return a well this challenging and difficult to 100% capacity was one of the most satisfying projects of my 35-year drilling industry career- especially when considering the well's importance to Sendafa residents," Powell remarked. Editor’s note: You may remember David Powell was the winner of the 2011 WWDR / GEFCO scholarship. His continued endeavours to provide clean, safe water to those in need is an absolute joy to report. The HDPE pipeline before and after cleaning it with Jet-Lube/Design Water Technologies’ Unicid Catalyst. David Powell checks out the air lifting of the well.