Will Water Be Cleaner In A Deeper Well?

[mautourproblem]

We made a 2” 40 meter deep well but the water is quit dirty with yellow-red mud.

We are now told that if we make a 4” 100 meter plus deep well the water will be clean.

Have anybody any experience with this?

Will the water be clean or is it just waste of time and money to try go deeper?

[LJW]

I don't know what area you are in, but most wells get clearer if you go deeper.

[gotlost]

Take a look at this thread on the Farm Forum.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/81390-boreholes/

[mautourproblem]

I don't know what area you are in, but most wells get clearer if you go deeper.

Sarapee

[Lobin]

Some friends had a 15-20m well, then in the same area others went for a 80-100m bore, the water out of the deeper bore was crystal compared to the well. But again would depend on your catchment area. But generally the deeper you go the more you avoid the surface seepage and everyday runoff.

Edited November 30, 2010 by Lobin

[mcgriffith]

I think this question could be answered best in the Farm forum, where there are dozens of well experts who should be able to help.

Moved to the Farm forum, with a live link remaining on Chiang Mai.

[tim armstrong]

I agree with others - deeper is better. But if you are after drinking water, you still have to be aware of the nasty little micro organisms. Good idea to get it tested and/or have filters if your going to drink it, no matter how clean it looks.

[jsflynn603]

A properly collared 40 meter well should not be affected by surface seepage.

However I hit crystal clear water at a mere 3 meters, (and as cold as ice, and under positive pressure (actually coming out of the pipe with no pumping)) this means that the water was coming from a "perched water table," from a hill hundreds of meters away, and probably from hundreds of meters deep. Ironically a neighbor, a mere 30 meters away had a 4" well dug 200+ meters through rock, and though the water is clear and drinkable, it stinks due to natural sulphides present in the surrounding water supply.

In reality, it all depends upon what the strata is. It sounds like you are in sediments with clay. If they really drilled rock without hitting soft spots, I would really wonder if there was a break in the well casing. If they drill deeper and pass the sediments with the clay, into solid or broken rock, sand or permeable sediments without the iron and/or clay, then you should have good quality water. Unless you have access to stratigraphic data (around here in New Hampshire, US) there was a seismic survey done which I can access which ran right beside my property) you'll have no idea what you can run into.

It is possible that even though your water is cloudy that it is high quality water, just turbid with clay and/or iron oxides which can be yellow or red. In that case pumping into a few hundred gallon holding tank, and letting water flow off the top into another tank might give you crystal clear, high quality water with the "mud" settled out. Fill a gallon jug with it, and let it sit for a day and see if it settles. Iron oxides should settle fast. Clay will not settle fast. If it does settle out fast it may be worth just going this route, but of course test it. If you show bacteria a lab should be able to tell if it is contaminated from surface run-off through a broken casing, or contaminated by a permeable strata from another source (possibly distant) but remember that there are confluent iron bacteria that live off iron in the water, and that is not a health problem as confluent iron bacteria is not harmful, but it is an aesthetic concern, meaning that over time your toilet bowl or sink might develop reddish or yellow streaks. Still, water that contains confluent iron bacteria can be treated to produce crystal clear water free of both the iron and the confluent iron bacteria.

Going that route might be cheaper (I have no idea what a well costs in Thailand) than drilling a deep 4" well (and the added cost of a more expensive pumping setup). If you don't have confidence in the driller, find a consultant to come out and check things out and make recommendations.

Good luck

[Blinky Bill]

Send a PM to Boksida. He has a large drilling company specialising in ground water with more than 30 years experience in Northern Thailand.

[afarang]

I am on the Isarn plateau, so this may not be relevant to you. Our bore went down only 25 metres. Got quite good quality water, although high in Iron. I Have drunk it ,with zero ill effects. What the driller was looking for, was water in Sand. Which acts as a filtering agent as well. Where you are you may not have sand. Our soil structure is : Top Soil, Clay Sandstone, Shale, Sand.The plateau is a bit unique. There is a massive underground"Lake" under most of the plateau. Covering most of Isarn. This "Lake" has been mapped, I do have the maps.Some areas of Isarn, the water is very Saline, therefore unsuitable. Mostly, it is good quality

[slapout]

Blinky's advice to contact Boksida is your best avenue to the solution to the problem. In the mean time you may want to verify what type of reservoir is the water being produced from (sand, shale, etc). What type of screening/check valve system is on the end of you pipe, What size pipe (you say you drilled a 2 inch well), what type of lifting system (pump) are you using, what volumes are you pumping, etc?

If you are pumping mud out of the well, (how old is well and how long do you pump) you may want to pull the tubing that you have in the well and verify that there is not a hole in same, at a shallow depth, as well as verifying the physical make up on the end of your pipe.

Normally a test will be done when well is drilled to verify water quality and quantity. Was this done? If so and the problems you are seeing are recent you may just have a mechanical problem in the well.

Good luck

[Grower]

A 2" bore is unlikely to be cased; therefore you are probably getting seep water from the upper levels of strata. You'll need a larger bore hole properly cased. Find an expert in this. Cheers.

[wagner54]

my bore is 40 meteres and the water is crystal clear but is saline and my nearest neighbor about a half kilo away has a well only 8 meters deep that tastes great not the least bit salty. My place is in Isaan so do you think if I have another bore drilled and only go 15 to 20 metre deep that I will avoid the saline water? Any advice is welcome because I definately have to get drinking water on site for the workers.

I am on the Isarn plateau, so this may not be relevant to you. Our bore went down only 25 metres. Got quite good quality water, although high in Iron. I Have drunk it ,with zero ill effects. What the driller was looking for, was water in Sand. Which acts as a filtering agent as well. Where you are you may not have sand. Our soil structure is : Top Soil, Clay Sandstone, Shale, Sand.The plateau is a bit unique. There is a massive underground"Lake" under most of the plateau. Covering most of Isarn. This "Lake" has been mapped, I do have the maps.Some areas of Isarn, the water is very Saline, therefore unsuitable. Mostly, it is good quality

[meadish_sweetball]

The radon levels in Northern Thailand, and especially in Saraphi, are very high. You might want to do some testing and consider what you should use the water for. http://books.google.com/books?id=gvlk2lSvZA0C&pg=PA31&lpg=PA31&dq=saraphi+cancer&source=bl&ots=WdYX0uzMZe&sig=HS4xMD5mgNwdp72F-dx5Kj6gasA&hl=en&ei=j1QoTbS_LIKurAei0Zn3DA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=saraphi%20cancer&f=false http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/drinking/private/wells/disease/radon.html

[Joop50]

Where can I find a laboratory to test my water in Chiang Mai? I have a well in Saraphi and use it only for the trees and grass.

[Ray2020]

I am on the Isarn plateau, so this may not be relevant to you. Our bore went down only 25 metres. Got quite good quality water, although high in Iron. I Have drunk it ,with zero ill effects. What the driller was looking for, was water in Sand. Which acts as a filtering agent as well. Where you are you may not have sand. Our soil structure is : Top Soil, Clay Sandstone, Shale, Sand.The plateau is a bit unique. There is a massive underground"Lake" under most of the plateau. Covering most of Isarn. This "Lake" has been mapped, I do have the maps.Some areas of Isarn, the water is very Saline, therefore unsuitable. Mostly, it is good qual

How can I access your map of the underground lake? I need to know the depth it is at near Udon Thani. Thanks for your help. Ray