Tuesday, June 24, 2008 : 4:20 p.m.

Innovative Well Rehabilitation

Jim Bailey, RG, Kleinfelder Inc.

Typical well rehabilitation strategies often include mechanical and chemical methods such as swabbing, jetting, brushing, and acid treatments.  Most often the method selected is the one the rehabilitation contractor has used for years.  A more holistic approach to rehabilitation uses a combination of methods to address the particular performance issue of the well.  The key to any rehabilitation process is getting enough energy out into the filter pack and surrounding formation to break up biological deposits and loosen mechanical plugging of fine sediments.  This presentation will describe an innovative approach to improving well performance that uses a combination of methods and which incorporates the findings from several recent studies on well performance factors and rehabilitation methods. The presentation will also discuss several rehabilitation projects that illustrate the advantages of this holistic approach to well rehabilitation and the importance of the process over the method.

Jim Bailey, RG, Kleinfelder Inc. Jim Bailey, L.HG, RG is Well Services Director for Kleinfelder, Inc. and has 23 years experience in municipal water supply issues including water rights, well design/construction, and evaluation of well performance issues. He works closely with the largest well services company in Germany, Pigadi, on various well rehabilitation technologies and approaches to well performance. Since 2005 he has completed well evaluation/performance projects, in Alaska, Alabama, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Virginia, Maryland, New Mexico, Washington, and Canada. He is a frequent speaker at workshops on well maintenance and rehabilitation throughout the U.S.


2008 NGWA Conference on Eastern Regional Ground Water Issues