About 15 years ago, I was contracted to be the qualifier for a prospective Colorado well drilling company. Once licensed, I would have been acting president of the drilling company until the owners could qualify to get their own license.
Two recent stories brought the rights of well drillers and well owners into stark relief.
What is the responsibility of the well drilling and water systems professions to the environment? Where do the rights of one homeowner begin and end, particularly in a time of water scarcity?
Attorney Tim Williams has worked with well drillers for decades. I caught up with him and his colleague Adrienne Knack before their presentation at the recent Michigan Ground Water Association convention. Their goal: to help make sure your drilling isn't charity work.
"In order to deal effectively with reactive clays, a
drilling contractor must be able to identify reactive soil conditions,
understand how and why clay reacts the way it does, and know how to modify the
behavior of reactive soils."
The distinguishing feature of the dual-rotary (DR) drill rig is a lower rotary drive, which is used to independently advance casing up to 40 inches, depending on the drill model.
Drilling muds have four basic properties that determine the behavior of the mud as a drilling fluid – viscosity, density, gel strength and filtration. Several other properties, although of lesser importance, need to be checked, especially if problems are anticipated or encountered.
