Town of St. George's, NL - New Drilled Well Water Supply

Wells drilled a few years ago in the Town of St. George’s have become contaminated by brackish salt water that has seeped through the thin clay layer that separated the sea water from the potable water. Two or three more wells are required to replace those wells. The first task will be to use state of the art geological equipment and technology to confirm the water source. After an intensive fieldwork program, long-term well testing, three-dimensional numeric modelling and an innovative design approach, a “duplet well” arrangement will be implemented to prevent the risk of brackish water, once again, mixing with the potable water. To do this, the field program must locate an impermeable layer of clay separating quality water from brackish water. Then a test well will be drilled, without penetrating the clay layer. A low rate of five to 15 gpm pump will be installed at the bottom of the well and a 50 to 70 gpm pump will be installed several feet above the low rate pump. The long-term pumping program will establish rates for both pumps and provide a chemistry balance. The low rate pump will discharge the brackish water into a nearby stream (if it meets guidelines) and the production pump will provide potable water that meets all Canadian drinking water guidelines, without requirement for any treatment. If the required flow cannot be obtained from the current well field, an attempt will be made to reclaim one or more of the old wells by using the duplet well system.