WorldWide Drilling Resource

Tales from the Field by Jeremy C. Wire Geoconsultants, Inc. A Disaster Just Waiting to Happen Although a specific well drilling project is successful, sometimes outside events can render the well design work, and careful construction of the well by the contractor “all for nothing”. This tale is the story of one such project involving an industrial well, where an unexpected event occurred soon after the well was completed. The setting was a recycling plant where all kinds of wastepaper was brought in and processed into paper coating for gyp- sum wallboard. The plant had three old wells of relatively shallow depth, and at least two of them had been abandoned because of saltwater intrusion, and the production had declined in the third, so a deeper replacement well was needed. When we first visited the site to check out the proposed location, it was evident there was limited space for access to the rig, in and around large pallets of wastepaper being delivered daily. In addition, the location was very close to the path of forklifts which were constantly moving in and out of the processing plant. One criteria for the well was to provide water of suitable quality for steam boilers, as thewastepaper was first digested in huge heated vats, then the resulting slurry was pressed progressively thinner between a series of large-diameter hollow rollers. The interior of each roller was heated by steam. The rollers revolved at high speed to progressively dry the paper, and this system occupied the length of the building. Occasionally, the paper stream would suddenly break, a horn would blare, and a forklift would suddenly rush out of the building, pushing a large mass of tangled paper ahead of it, just missing the rig. Such an event obviously was not conducive to maintaining total concentration on drilling activities by the drill crew! The processing plant operated 24/7, and particularly at night took on the aspect of what might be best described as the “devil’s kitchen”. Despite this apparent chaos going on, a test hole was completed in a reasonable amount of time to a depth of 600 feet, and indicated a well producing a satisfactory quantity and quality of water to sustain the operation could be constructed, particularly if screened below a depth of about 440 feet. A12-inch-diameter production well was then completed, and when tested, met the client’s criteria for water quality and quantity, and was plumbed into the water system. About a month after the well was in production, we called the plant manager to check on how the well was doing, and see if everythingwas okay. Themanager replied, “The well was doing great, but unfortunately the plant burned down about a week ago.” Obviously stunned upon hearing this news, there was not much we could do to re- spond appropriately to this unexpected disaster! Later, the plant changed own- ers, but was never totally rebuilt. Jeremy michele@ worldwidedrillingresource.com 30 MAY 2017 WorldWide Drilling Resource ®