Geothermal drilling is a messy business. Jobsites get taken over by mud and managing it is an important step to conquer. At the 2017 International Ground Source Heat Pump Association (IGSHPA) conference in Denver, Todd Giddings, Ph.D., PG, presented “Treating Muddy Geothermal Borehole Drilling Water and Contain the Cuttings by Using a Sediment Filter Bag as a Best Management Practice.”
The president of Todd Giddings and Associates Inc., based in Pennsylvania, has spent the past 45 years as a consultant. He uses his subsurface expertise to advise water well and geothermal drillers nationwide. Giddings enjoys solving real-world problems, so after learning about the sediment filter bag, he made it a point to educate geothermal drillers in particular about its usefulness, especially on sites where water and cuttings might flow into a stream or storm drain pipe. In a recent interview with National Driller, Giddings talked about what a sediment filter bag is, how to use it and when to use it.