New water bore

[marimus]

Hi everyone,

We had a new water bore drilled at my dad's place (400 acres), near where he wants to build a house.

Its Queensland, Australia - so its called a bore, and not a well

Anyway, the driller chose the spot in the first picture (look close for the wire in the ground). He said there was good water, but he wasn't sure how deep.

 

[marimus]

This second photo is the drill rig setup ready for drilling. The truck has a PTO that spins the drill, and there is a 900CFM air compressor that drives the drill bit (hammer) and blows the crushed rock up the hole.

View attachment 62860

 

[marimus]

This photo shows the drill in operation. Lots of dust and noise. There are actually two guys in the photo...

 

[marimus]

There was soil in the top metre, followed by decomposed granite then solid granite down to 3 metres. After that it changed to bassalt, which was solid down to 30 metres (100ft). This photo shows the strata samples, taken every 3 metres.



A report detailing the GPS coordinates, the strata, depth and flow needs to be submitted by the driller on completion. There is no goverment charge or fee, however $40k fine if the paperwork isn't completed, and it needs to be done by a licensed driller.

 

[marimus]

Hit water at 32 metres. Dust is gone, and you can see there really were 2 people operating the rigg. The water was in a fracture in the bassalt, 3 meters of fracture, and back to solid rock after that. They drilled 2 metres past the fracture zone, but it was solid and the flow was good so they didn't reccomend going deeper.

 

[marimus]

Time to flow test. Its air pressure that provides circulation for drilling, and thats what brings the water up the bore. They wind the pressure right back from what they use to drill (370psi for drilling). The flow rate was 2 litres/second, which translates to around 30gpm. That rate is supposedly a very conservative estimate.

 

[marimus]

This photo is the finished (lined and capped) bore. They concrete from the surface down to solid rock, and use PVC pipe all the way down, with slotted pipe at the fracture zone.

If your wondering how they concrete down to solid rock, they used a larger (12") drill bit untill they get into solid rock, then they switch over to the smaller size (8" I think, but not sure) for the bore.

There is no pump or pipework installed yet, that is a project still to come

 

[EddieWalker]

Great post and pics!!

I've never drilled a well and hopefully, never will, but it's always interesting to see what's done in the process and espesially in different parts of the world.

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[marimus]

Great post and pics!!

I've never drilled a well and hopefully, never will, but it's always interesting to see what's done in the process and espesially in different parts of the world.

Thanks,
Eddie

Thanks,
I had never seen a bore drilled untill this one, so it was pretty interesting for me. I thought I knew what to expect from reading TBN, but it seems you guys do it a little different

We have rainwater tanks for drinking, but there isn't really enough rainfall in this area for a large garden, unless you get bore water. There are no other options, as the nearest townwater is about 8-9km away.

Anyway, i'm glad somebody enjoyed the pics.

 

[have_blue]

Brings back memories. I spent a good part of my life manufacturing those drill bits.

Your water looks clear already. In my part of the world, it can take 2 or 3 days for the water to clear up enough to drink.

Thanks for the story and pictures!