East Tennessee Water Production

Hydro-Fracturing For Low Yield Wells Water Well Drilling Pumps - Service & Installation

Well Development by Hydro-Fracturing

Hydro-fracturing is a well development process that involves injecting water under high pressure into a bedrock formation via the well. This is intended to increase the size and extent of existing bedrock fractures, thereby enlarging the network of water bearing fractures and size of the area supplying water to the well. The procedure is often used to increase well yields of new deep drilled wells with marginal or inadequate production rates. It may also applied to older existing wells that have progressively diminished recovery rates over time usually caused by mineralization and incrustation of rock fractures. Hydro-fracturing was originally developed in the oil fields to increase production volumes and is a relative newcomer to the drinking water well industry. It is now the method preferred by most contractors for developing bedrock wells because it is a controlled process. Older methods included blasting with dynamite and more recently, the application of dry ice to a capped well was used. These methods were somewhat uncontrolled and sometimes resulted in well failure. The use of dynamite frequently caused wells to collapse from the force of the blast rendering the well useless. The use of dry ice was common only a few years ago and was a much less violent approach to applying high pressure to the bedrock formation and the results were unsatisfactory. The hydro-fracturing process eliminates this problem by controlling the pressure with packers below the well casing.