In June 2021, Mount Sopris Instruments’ geophysicist Hanna Flamme donated time to log a newly drilled water well in Sterling, Colorado. The well was drilled for the Abrahamson family, who did not have access to a safe and reliable water source. The family was forced to rely on bottled water and an old agricultural water well after their water well collapsed earlier this year. Drilling was funded by a program supported by The Groundwater Foundation and the Water Well Trust through the National Groundwater Association.
The goal of this logging project was to help the drilling team better determine water well screen placement by estimating bed boundaries, aquifer thickness, and water quality. Hanna used Mount Sopris’ custom logging van equipped with a 1500 meter WNA winch, OPAL data acquisition system, and 40GRP-1000 gamma and resistivity combination probe for this project.
The well was a total of 500 feet deep. The well drilling was also done through these foundations. M & S Drilling Inc. of Sterling, Colorado, was the primary contractor to drill the well and stayed onsite while Hanna completed the borehole logging work.
During the first logging attempt, the 40GRP lost connection to OPAL and the tool current rose to 300 mA. After several failed attempts to restart the tool, Hanna turned off the tool power and pulled the 40GRP out of the well. She then performed electrical isolation tests. Electrical leakage was found inside wireline 1. After further investigation, Hanna determined that the wireline was damaged at a depth of approximately 150 ft. The damaged section of cable had to be removed and the system re-headed.
The field crew was leaving for the night, so Hanna drove back to Denver to retrieve a 500 meter MXA winch and Matrix console from Mount Sopris’ rental equipment stock. She returned to the logging site early the next morning to ensure logging was complete before the drilling team resumed work at 8:00 am.
More information about this project can be found in the Water Well Journal: https://waterwelljournal.com/mount-sopris-instruments-steps-up-for-colorado-family/
