Chemical and mechanical clogging of groundwater abstraction wells at well field Heel, the Netherlands

Abstract

Well field Heel, in the south east of the Netherlands, consists of a row of wells drilled in an anoxic pyrite-containing aquifer alongside a former gravel pit, which now serves as a recharge basin, where water is actively aerated. All wells are seriously affected by chemical (screen slot) and/or mechanical (well bore) clogging. The objective of this study is to explain this combined occurrence. A combination of chemical, hydraulic and well-maintenance data indicate three groundwater quality types: (1) oxic basin water, (2) anoxic iron-containing basin water after oxidation of the traversed aquifer, and (3) deeply anoxic native groundwater. Wells abstracting a mixture of oxic basin water and anoxic basin water and/or native groundwater experience chemical well clogging, whereas wells abstracting (only or partly) native groundwater are vulnerable to mechanical well clogging. In the end, after oxic basin water has completely oxidized the traversed the aquifer, only two groundwater quality types will be present. Wells abstracting only oxic basin water will show no clogging, and wells abstracting a mixture of native groundwater and oxic basin water will experience chemical and possibly also mechanical well clogging. In this reasoning, the sequence in abstracted groundwater quality types coincides with a sequence in well clogging: from mechanical to chemical to no clogging. As well field Heel is situated in sloping terrain, the interplay between regional hydraulic gradient and different water qualities results in one-sided chemical clogging in the upper part of the well screen during abstraction, and in the lower part during the resting phase.