Aquifer Storage and Recovery Exploratory Well Program

This paper describes a reclaimed water aquifer storage and recovery program that did not end with the anticipated results. Initial drilling indicated three potential ASR (aquifer storage and recovery) zones, based on water quality and specific capacity. The lower zone had poor quality water, but with initial testing showing a high specific capacity hope was had that a “bubble” of fresh water could be created. However, a dynamic flow log and video log showed that the high specific capacity zone was due to a fracture in the limestone. This indicated that water injected for storage and later recovery, would likely be flushed away because of the high flow through the fracture, which would act like a conduit.This program demonstrates that while initial site specific testing results are favorable, discrete zones must be tested for water quality and specific capacity through a variety of methods to ensure that the zones are correctly evaluated.