Water Well Asset Management: Complying with the “Revised Total Coliform Rule” with Preventive Well Maintenance

Water wells are becoming recognized as the most important asset in a groundwater system. As water systems age, deterioration is an almost inevitable consequence. In groundwater systems water wells will experience deposits building up, depending upon many factors. Formation damage as well as biological and mineral deposits will result in lost capacity problems and associated water quality problems, including total coliforms being detected in pumped water samples. Complying with the Revised Total Coliform Rule is often not as simple as disinfection of wells but more importantly requires that the well be cleaned and kept clean on a periodic basis. The occurrence of total coliforms most often do not suggest contamination of water wells but can suggest that the well needs to be cleaned. Novel ideas and understanding about well problems and solutions will be presented, based on many years of experience. Effective rehabilitation and maintenance can be very effective at maintaining peak efficiency as well as maintaining more consistent water quality. With budgets getting tighter and ever increasing energy costs of water production, cost-effective well maintenance can be used for fixed budget pricing and driving down life cycle costs. New effective and economical methods of well maintenance will be presented with case studies of cost savings and solving very difficult total coliform issues.