When you drill a groundwater monitoring well down into an aquifer to draw water, you can’t just stick a pipe in the ground and expect it to work. Some water will fill the bottom of the pipe, but not at high enough quantities to make it a working well. Plus, the water will be full of sediment. The answer to both of these conundrums is a well screen.

What Is A Well Screen?

Wells need to produce at high enough levels to be usable. That means that you need to increase the surface space through which water will flow from the aquifer into the pipe. You do this with a well screen.

A well screen is a filter that allows water to enter the pipe from several entry points. The filter can be made from a number of materials. The filter needs to have a large surface area through which water can penetrate. It needs to have non-clogging slots to keep water flowing. It must resist corrosion because it will be in contact with water. It needs to have enough strength to keep the surrounding structure intact.

The openings in the well screen need to be small enough to hold back a good deal of the surrounding formation. The water flow through the screen should be consistent and not too fast.

Today's ready-made screening materials make adding a well screen easy. These modern screens are constructed to cut down on encrusting, which helps keep water flowing. The wide surface of the screen translates to minimal pressure loss. It controls sand and silt production in the well, no matter what aquifer it is tapping.

When Would You Need To Install A Well Screen?

Installing a well screen is recommended for all environmental drilling  jobs. It helps to prolong the life of the well and keeps the water flowing without restriction.

Unconsolidated materials, like sand and fine silt, can flow with water without any issues. These fine particulates must be filtered out before the water becomes usable. A well screen helps to keep most of this fine material out of your well water. This lessens the need for filtering the water and keeps the water flowing.

Adding a gravel pack around the well screen helps filtrate the water even more than the well screen alone. The gravel pack provides another layer of filtering around the screen. It also provides a structural element that helps keep surrounding materials in place.

If you need environmental drilling services, contact Talon/LPE Drilling Services. We provide drilling services throughout Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico.