Water Well Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/573697
From the Archives is a look back at popular drilling content that appeared in Water Well Journal years ago, but remains important today. The quarterly column is spon- sored by MARL Technologies Inc., a manufacturer of drills for water well, rotary, geo- technical, environmental, sonic, geothermal, CPT, min- ing, and construction. More information can be found at www.marltechnologies.com. This article first appeared in the May 2006 issue of WWJ. I n order to find a low cost, high quality potable water supply for North Dakota's South Central Regional Water District, Bartlett and West En- gineers were forced to look at the project from every angle. The district, located in Burleigh County, North Dakota, operated a well site and water treatment plant along the Missouri River from 1981 to 1996. As the district's popula- tion grew, its water needs became too much for the existing site to handle. So the district began purchasing water from Bismarck, North Dakota, which drew its water directly from the Missouri River. But the growing district was at the point that it was overdrawing its con- tract with Bismarck of 2.3 million gal- lons of water. The district currently has about 3500 meters in service and adds about 250 more per year. In addition, the district is expanding to the north to include a small town with a population of 800. To meet the demands of its growing customer base, the district esti- mated it needed another 2400 gallons per minute. Building a system to meet the dis- trict's criteria, though, wasn't easy and required engineers to take a more creative approach: angled wells. The Requirements The district established basic criteria for the system that involved construc- tion cost, yield, water quality, location, and treatment costs. First and foremost, the district wanted high quality water — comparable to or better than the water the district was already purchasing from Bismarck. The water purchased from Bismarck has total dissolved solids of 350 parts per million and seven or eight grains of hardness. On the other hand, the water the dis- trict pumped from vertical wells 65 feet deep during the 1980s and 1990s was high in iron and manganese, TDS was FROM THE ARCHIVES A NEW DIRECTION Water supply project uses angled wells to reach groundwater under the Missouri River. By Jennifer Strawn 64 October 2015 WWJ waterwelljournal.com Traut Wells installs 12-inch inner steel casing for the second angled well. The Foremost DR rig allows them to drive the casing as they drill and construct the well inside of the casing. "So by putting the well in at an angle, we could still use a reasonably shallow aquifer and we could add a longer screen to the well profile so we could get more yield."