Monday, April 29, 2013
Michael D. Lubrecht, LG, DIRECTED TECHNOLOGIES DRILLING INC
James Doesburg, PG, Directed Technologies Drilling Inc.
Dan Ombalski, Directed Technologies Drilling
Developers or managers of shallow, coastal, or brackish groundwater resources are confronted with several challenges due to the shallow depth and areal extent of these aquifers. Conventional well systems typically increase the difficulty of managing these resources, because vertical wells do not align well with the spatial distribution of the potable water.
Horizontal wells provide better access to these limited resources and have less potential to cause irreparable damage to the aquifer. An attendant advantage is the reduced infrastructure and long term operation and management costs of horizontal well arrays for groundwater production from these resources.
Horizontal wells may now be installed in extremely challenging coastal environments, where even a short time ago the technology was limited in its capabilities. New developments enable the installation of blind wells up to 2500 feet in length in flowing sand. Improved locating and steering technologies enable wells to be installed in thin, shallow aquifers – decreasing the risk of excessive local drawdown that can cause saltwater intrusion or other aquifer damage.
Other developments such as the construction of radial systems combining a central hub with multiple horizontal wells offer performance similar to that of a conventional Ranney Collector well system, at a fraction of the installation cost.
Other difficult groundwater management issues may also be addressed through the application of horizontal directional drilling. Lower yield community wells have been successfully installed in landslide blocks or talus slopes, where vertical drilling would be impractical, or in vertically-jointed bedrock, where limited interception of water bearing joints by vertical wells would lessen their yield.
Horizontal well drilling opens up additional opportunities for groundwater development in hard-to-manage resources, and provides associated benefits for long term conservation of the resources.
| Michael D. Lubrecht, LG
, DIRECTED TECHNOLOGIES DRILLING INC
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Mike Lubrecht is the Senior Geologist at Directed Technologies Drilling Inc. (DTD), a directional drilling company that specializes in constructing environmental wells. One of the company founders in 1995, Lubrecht has been an environmental and engineering geologist with consultants and state agencies for 25 years. He has assisted in the development of many of the specialized techniques and tools used in environmental directional drilling, and is a co-developer of several patented technologies in the industry. Lubrecht has authored several technical articles on the technology, and is currently involved in research and development, marketing, and intellectual property for DTD.
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| James Doesburg, PG
, Directed Technologies Drilling Inc.
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Jim Doesburg earned Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Geology from the University of Missouri. He became familiar with horizontal remediation wells while General Manager of Battelle’s Environmental Management Organization (EMO). EMO demonstrated the effectiveness of horizontal remediation wells as an innovative remediation technology at Tinker AFB in 1991. In 1996 Doesburg founded Directed Technologies Drilling, Inc., where he has continued to develop, patent, and apply new environmental remediation technologies. Horizontal wells are used throughout the world for environmental remediation, dewatering, water supply and site investigations. While at Battelle, Doesburg received the Federal Laboratory Consortium Award for Technology Transfer.
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| Dan Ombalski
, Directed Technologies Drilling
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Biographical Sketch TBD
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