Groundwater resources of the Republic of Belarus: Problems and solutions

Abstract

The quantity and quality of water resources determines sustainable development of any country, as well as the standard of living and the health of the population. According to the national water cadastre, in 2009, 2.35 million m3 of water per day was taken from 20 thousand production wells in Belarus. The Republic of Belarus has significant mineral water resources, and there are 224 wells with mineral water on its territory. There are 130 wells in operation, and 94 wells are reserve wells. Drinking water supply in the Republic of Belarus is mostly based on the use of underground sources, with the exception of the cities of Minsk and Gomel, which makes it possible to obtain better and cleaner water than water from surface sources. At the same time, a significant part of wells operate at lower rate due to the phenomena of mechanical, biological and chemical clogging. Chemical clogging is an unavoidable process. Even with high-quality drilling operations, during well operation, due to the appearance of hydrodynamic disturbances in the reservoir, the gas equilibrium in underground water is shifted, which results in precipitation of hard-to-dissolve iron, calcium, manganese, and silicon compounds on the filter and in the filter zone. The analysis of the service life of water intake wells has shown that the main causes of their failure are filter clogging and sanding. The service life of most wells, even if mudding sediments are removed by the known methods, is never longer than 16–20 years. Operation of inefficient wells, their subsequent abandonment and re-drilling require significant financial resources. Currently, outdated wells are being designed and constructed at water intakes in the Republic of Belarus. They are insufficiently maintainable and short-lived, have a significant cost and high operating costs for lifting water. One of the ways to solve the problem is to build wells with annular systems of circulating reagent regeneration and replaceable filters to provide a significant increase in resource, stability of flow rate and reduction in operating costs. This will allow us to modernize water intakes of underground water by switching to wells of new designs and to reach a better level in ground water production.