Borehole construction and its effect on the environment

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I have always wondered why everyone wants to own a borehole. Recently, I learned that Nigeria is seriously prone to earthquakes because of the number of boreholes being bored on a daily basis.

  1. Can some one please explain if there is any adverse effect of borehole construction on environment (mostly on ground water)? Is there any study done particularly for the The Nigerian terrain ?
  2. Is this true that there is danger of earthquake in areas hugely drilled by bore holes?
  3. Does every country have different regulations for bore hole drilling? 

 

 

 

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17 Answers

    1. There is an impact in every field - from agriculture to aquifer pollution 
    2. Only a federal agancy should deal with water exctraction, the DANGER is very very high !!

  2. 1. It Should true that there will be adverse effect on mining of any substances from below the earth crust. Example, there are studies conducted on nepal earthquake of 7+ magnitude (apr 15) and one of the notable cause - abstraction of huge ground water in Indo-gangetic plains.

    2. It cannot be only deep boreholes, the factors can be any one and associated effects of Under mining of below ground materials(deep), abstraction of ground water additionally the impounding reservoirs man-made or natural to contribute load on the vaccum created etc.

    3. There must be a regulatory authority in every country. In india there are Central & state ground water boards to monitor & control.

  3. Excessive Water abstraction through boreholes causes numerous adverse impacts on ground water hydrology & ecology , like ;

    a.  Over abstraction exposes the upper aquifer which allows intrusion / suction of un-managed surface wastewater into the deep ground water aquifer - thus causes  Ground water contamination .

    b.  The under ground strata / geological formation get loosen due to constant water abstraction/   Water mining  and after the exclusion of water  from soil, the underground stratification is exposed to earth quakes/ jolts 

    c.  Due to constant / over abstraction , the water table of the area get depleted which  adversely impacts the local biodiversity and ecology .  

    Col Islam-ul-Haque , MSc, PhD 

    islamhaq3@yahoo.com 

  4. As already written by Francisco, I think the most common impact of water wells is the connection between shallow and deep aquifers, with the possibility to prejudice the water quality of the deep one. Is very common in water well drilling to install filters at every coarse level to improve the well productivity. This malpractice cause a flux of  water from layers with greater hydraulic potential, through the well casing, to the layers with lower potential. This problem can be fixed with proper well design and proper building operations. On the contrary, it is rather impossible to fix the problem on existing wells.

  5. Hello Victoria,

    1. First of all, there always is effect of borehole on environment, the scale depends on the local lithology and geology, please check for the location you specified.

    2. There might be case of earthquake reported in long run due to sinking as it creates hollow in the aquifer due to over extraction.

    3. Yes, there are separate rules with separate trans-boundary issues.

    Cheers!!

  7. THE DRILLING OF EXPLORATION WELLS  AND BORE WATER WELLS  WOULD HAVE LITTLE  OR  NO EFFECT WHATSOEVER  WITH REGARD TO ENCOURAGING THE INCIDENCE OF EARTH QUAKES.

    Nearly every country has their own rules and regulations.

    It is absolutely not true that drilling of bore holes has any effect whatsoever on earthquakes.

    Most bore holes are quite small, though some may be deep.

    FRACKING is a different proposition and will have different effects from place to place and geological formation to geological formation.

  8. Air-to-Water Generation is a green solution for clean, bacteria free, great tasting drinking water. Generating water from the air is directly related to the surrounding temperature and humidity in the air - the higher the temperature and humidity, the more water will be generated. We manufacture machines able to generate as much as 20,000 gallons plus per day. 

    1 Comment

  9. Hi,This question must be studied because the experience in Kerala -India - where there are Bore wells every where have the problem of scarcity of water in open whels.But the Bore holes are not only the reason since the open whels are 20 feet to 40 feet(5 to 12 Meters, because the BORE WHOLES are 200 to 400 feets(90 Meters to 130 Meters) and all waters (BORE HOLE) from HARD ROCK.There are voices not to give permissions to BORE HOLES-But we have to conduct a dep study on this

  10. Hola Victoria:  a mi no me preocupa la perforación de pozos, los que me preocupa es el fracking ,  tambien los pozos inyectores de agua de purga en recuperaciòn secundaria, la corrosión que produce en los revestimientos tubing y casing,  el posible traspaso de esas aguas a las napas freaticas de superficie que puede enfermar a la poblaciòn, me preocupan los productos quimicos que se inyectan, la radioactividad de los equipos de servicio y las admisiones involuntarias que se producen, ah!  y tambien los abandono de pozos mal realizados,  los derrames de oleoductos en superficie y en zona de carga.  si cuidamos eso cuidamos el medio ambiente. sds   

  11. Dear Victoria Obe,

    Your taking out ground water and one day will come when entire ground water in that area will get exhausted for forever .and all the well will go dry .this is real bad situation due to following reason 
    (1) This will create scarcity for drinking water .
    (2) The moisture of soil will vanish 
    (3) The fertility of soil will also vanish 
    (4) Tree roots which take out moisture from soil wont able to do that and     they will die untimely death 
    (5) And the worst of all that particular area will become desert one day .

    (6) A little change in those regions thereby may cause earthquakes or a small seismic wave may amplify to cause a huge earthquake in that region

    their is nothing bad in having bore well but you can’t take out all the water make sure that ground water get accumulation also .
    and remember we are here for some time so use recourses wisely we want to leave better world for your future generation ,hope we may not end up fucking our environment .
    following things we can do to replies ground water . Yes, it may result in earthquake. As we dig more bore wells and use the whole water present underneath the earth, there may become empty spaces between the layers of the earth. A little change in those regions thereby may cause earthquakes or a small seismic wave may amplify to cause a huge earthquake in that region . And more bore wells even result in water scarcity if extensively used without steps taken for regeneration of water levels. Drilling holes in Earth is a major reason of frequent earthquakes.

    Of late there has been much discussion about whether tube wells or bore well drilling of drinking water is hazardous to the environment or is it a necessity. From the lay man’s point of view there may be varied opinions. However if ground water sustainability is destroyed by rampant drilling by individuals it will not be safe for the environment. 

    1- Plant more trees 
    2-create small ponds 
    3 -use deep technology in farming
    4- create small check dams 
    5-create small ponds 
    6-save rain water 
    7- make water holding tanks 

    together we can do much more to make it better world

    Regards,

    Prem Baboo

  12. Hello Victoria,

    1) Boreholes can have different purposes and thereof may depend their ability to impact or not the environment. Regarding impact on groundwater, I believe the most common sort of negative impact will arise when a borehole connects different aquifers transferring water between them. Different water compositions may lead to direct contamination in case one of them is contaminated on one hand. ON the other hand, even if the water is just different but not contaminated, it may destabilize the solid phase in the other aquifer, leading to adsorbed contaminant liberation. This is also a typical phenomenon with injection wells.

    2) There is an ongoing discussion about man made earthquakes due to the practice of fracking. Fracking is often used in deeper wells in order to make them more permeable. A fluid is injected with great pressure with the purpose of fracturing the rock. This technique is used in water as well as oil wells. Besides making the rock less "solid", the technique greatly increases pore pressure leading to the "lubrication" of the rock, that has just become less competent.

    Wells that serve the purpose of injection contribute to a rise in pore pressure and might thus depending on their setting and depth contribute more or less to an increase of the likelihood of an earthquake.

    On this page from the United States Geological Survey you will find a report on the matter

    http://earthquake.usgs.gov/research/induced/srl.php

    3) Yes, different countries have different regulations not just for boreholes in general but depending on the purpose they are made for: groundwater abstraction, injection, CO2 storage, wastewater injection, heat storage/retrieval, investigation, monitoring, Oil/Gas...

    Regards

    Francisco

  13. Borehole construction for water well supply will not cause earthquake. Earthquake are cause by a set of geologic conditions none of which exist close to Nigeria! The only adverse effect on the environment is excessive abstraction/over exploitation which could lead to streams or rivers being dried up and depletion of the aquifer system.. Having said that, how much water do we actually use? The Benin Formation-the most prolific aquifer in the Niger Delta, Nigeria which I have conducted research on. Research from borehole data, well logs have shown that the formation have good aquifer properties, high yield!

    There is no problem with well constructions in Nigeria for water supply!

    2 Comments

  14. There are many studies concerning boreholes and it is down played, there is much danger to environment, but the biggest threat to our once perfect eco-system is the abundance of ignorance!

  15. Boreholes or tubewells for drinking water, with handpumps or diesel pumps (or similar) to draw up the water will not cause earthquakes. The amount of water taken out is very small compared to the reserve of groundwater available in most instances. Occasionally, large numbers of boreholes into unconsolidated sediments (sands, peats, silts) can cause minor problems with subsidence of buildings, but not earthquakes.

    Earthquakes are usually deep seated geological failures of rocks under stress or tension, below the depth to which the influence of a drinking water borehole would penetrate. There is some evidence of drilling for shale gas causing minor earthquakes, but it is the high pressure forcing of fluids into the gas-bearing strata that causes the shift, not the drilling itself. 

  16. Bore holes are dug for Installation of Tube wells to extract water from Ground water aquifers in geographies where surface water sources are absent --No Pond, Canal or River. Aquifers are sub soils which keep water that percolates from surface of land and is retained by Clayey compacted layers or rocky sub strata. It is perfectly OK to dig bore holes and extract water if it is of good quality. However, extraction should be not much more than whatever water can get back into aquifer, otherwise, depth of ground water table shall go deeper and all bore well owners shall have to deepen their boreholes at extra costs. If any single individual digs a deeper bore and pumps out more water using more powerful pump, the water table will fall and some shallow bore holes shall go dry.

    In India, the geographies where ground water table has gone too deep, any further exploitation is stopped and no more boreholes are allowed. In other areas, Rainwater harvesting is encouraged so that aquifers can get water which tube wells shall extract round the year.

     

    Earth quakes have nothing to do with BORE HOLES. Only in the fault zones (where rocky substrata has deep fracture, very deep wells such as Shale gas wells or Crude oil extraction wells that can go 1000 to 1500 m deep, can be risky if molten lava or volcanoes are present in near vicinity....

    Plains around Nile River are not risky for tube wells.. 

  17. i think this should be dependent on the type of drilling and areas where there is drilling,  hence its important to check the soil stability and also the water table. where the water table shows excessive amount of water closest it will be good to use the ground water perhaps it can help in terms of the area absorbing more water during rainfall to avoid flash flooding. i am not sure why there is earthquakes associated with drilling for water, that is normally for real mining.  maybe something to do more research on! in SA you are required to register for boreholes and this entails ground water specialits to check and verify if it will suitable for drilling.