Hello

We drilled a borewell in our agricultural farm in Kalakkad area about 2 years ago. While drilling the borewell there was 0.5" water output at 90 feet, 2" at 120 feet and 6" at 170 feet. It was not possible to drill beyond 210 feet due to the quantity of water. The borewell was drilled finally to 210 feet deep, submersible pump placed at 190 feet and casing pipe provided until encountering rock at 40 feet from surface. This borewell was providing excellent supply to the full capacity of the 4" pipe, continuously for more than 15 hours even during last summer when there was water scarcity in the area.

However, water stopped coming about 2 weeks ago due to the failure of the 5 HP submersible. While trying to remove the motor with help from the local service providers, we were informed that the motor had been buried by mud for over 50 feet. When they inserted 1.5" MS tube to recover the pump, they found there was loose mud from 80 feet onwards and beyond 150 feet it was not possible to insert as the mud had kind of set hard. On trying to flush the bore using compressed air, the drilling company gave up loosening the mud at 150 feet saying there were likely a further mud sliding / borewell side getting damaged.

Different people are giving us different advices ranging from drilling a new borewell at a different site in the farm to even more fanciful possibilities of salvaging the borewell. I have been reading for the past few days the really valuable information provided at your site. I'm now inclined to seriously question the advice received from the local service providers.

We would like to rehabilitate the same borewell if possible. We are prepared to invest for drilling a new borewell in the same site and provide appropriate casing to whatever depth required or failing which, to drill a new bore in the alternative site which had been identified by the geologist as part of water exploration activity prior to drilling the current borewell. However, I need to be reasonably certain supported by data as to what caused this problem and the solution to be put in place to prevent its recurrence.

I would like to seek help from professionals that are familiar with the geological structure of my area and also well versed with the currently available resources with regard to borewell drilling / maintenance methodologies. Contact information of such professionals that are open to visiting the site on chargeable basis will be useful to me. I could not help providing my requirements in a shorter version. Thanks for the patience of those that have come this far and would really appreciate any useful contact information in this regard.

M.A.Sadiq