DTD Steps Up Water Resources Development with New Patent
Over the past few years, DTD has completed several wells for potable water supplies. Most of these were for low yield wells in difficult terrain, inaccessible or impractical for vertical well installation. However, over the past two years, we have broadly expanded the scope of horizontal wells for groundwater development. In the Colorado Front Range, DTD installed two multi-well, horizontal well fields for a medium-sized community, increasing the water supply in a relatively arid region where groundwater is hard to come by. Our industrial horizontal water supply well in Texas, installed for an energy company, produces on the order of 700 gpm, from a 2,300 foot long well, only 190 feet deep.
While DTD has worked at expanding our horizontal well installation capabilities, we have also reviewed current technologies to see where they may be improved. This has recently culminated in issuance of a patent, 9,777,467 for our new “System for Improving Fluid Collection from a Well and Method of Construction.” This well configuration combines one or more horizontal collectors with a vertical pumping chamber. Installation of such a system can maximize the capture of groundwater in thin or shallow aquifers, reducing drawdown while providing sufficient well yield to meet client needs.
DTD’s newly-patented radial collector well system provides access to challenging water sources using proven horizontal drilling technology.
DTD’s radial collector system makes several improvements over the well-established Ranney Collector Well systems. By using horizontal wells and smaller diameter vertical pump chambers, these systems may be installed for far less cost than the much larger and more complex Ranney wells. As a result, the technology is now available to smaller communities or other users who neither need the output of a Ranney collector, nor can afford the cost. Other benefits of the system include the ability to drill much longer radial collectors than is possible with the Ranney system, and the ability to track and steer the collectors to specific locations, unlike the unguided, jack-and-bore collectors installed from within a Ranney caisson.
DTD President, Dan Ombalski, PG, PE, notes that, “This new patent is another milestone event in DTD’s evolution as a technology company. We are devoted to improving the methods for accessing groundwater and groundwater contamination. Our patented Knock-Off system for drilling long, single-ended wells has been widely accepted in the industry, and now forms one of our core-businesses. We are hopeful that the ability to install smaller, but highly efficient well systems in challenging groundwater regimes will be of similar interest, particularly for small to mid sized communities now facing water shortages.”
For more information about the DTD radial collector wells, call 800-239-5950.
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