WorldWide Drilling Resource

Oil/Water Exploration by Harold White The following is a discussion with a homeowner concerning his water problems: Client: The next-door neighbor’s well is 60 feet deep and pumps 50 gal- lons per minute (gpm). My well is 400 feet deep and we get about 1/4 gpm. The wells are less than 300 feet apart. It doesn’t seem fair. None of our four wells pump even 1 gpm. Me: I checked the wells and you are not even near an underground creek. You have missed them. You really have to be on the creek to hit it, and you can see what happens if you don’t. This has been the case as long as I have been drilling, and I have never found a lake. Client: I thought when you drill into sand and gravel in the valley here, you are in the riverbed, and this is where water is found. Me: The sand and gravel your wells are in are so full of dirty sand and gravel, it is called cemented sand and gravel. Water will not flow through it. Clean gravel is what it takes, and is where the water moves fast. The faster the water is, the more you can pump. A fast-moving water creek through solidified or impervious formations is what I call creeks under- ground. Client: How do you find the creeks. You say you like to find more than one, to drill in one location. How do you do that? Me: Well, your dry wells have indicated where not to drill. Some people would say you could drill just about anywhere else, then. Not so. The dry wells can indicate which way to go to find the creek near them. So with all this indication, we will find the place where 5 or 6 creeks cross at a point where all of the centers of the creeks can be drilled at one place. It is a lot less expensive for the landowner than drilling each separately in different areas, hoping to get lucky. Client: So what did those dry wells indicate? Me: They indicated to go east about 150 feet and south 40 feet to find the creek. There should be seven or eight, so I went to that area and found a spot to make a good well. Harold Harold White may be contacted via e-mail to michele@ worldwidedrillingresource.com 38 NOVEMBER 2018 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® WTR The WWDR office will be closed from noon CST on Wednesday, November 21, through Thursday, November 22, so our staff can enjoy time with their fami l ies. Limited staff will be avail- able on Friday, November 23; e-mail will be monitored. We wish you and yours a blessed and safe holiday.