31 MARCH 2024 WorldWide Drilling Resource® by Jon Hansen, submitted by Tim Rasmussen Water for Life has been drilling water wells in Northeast Guatemala for 20 years. We have used cable and rotary drills, have cobbled up tools, made due with what we had, and functioned without support. We have lost tools downhole; learned lessons about who to let run our precious equipment; learned where not to drill by hard experience; and many other things. The region of Guatemala where we are is called Peten, which means “land of the caves.” The rock in this area is mainly limestone and there are many caves, caverns, and voids in the rock. Not far from us, a tourist attraction features an underground river where a person can float (in a very cold hour and a half) from one aboveground cenote to another. These caverns produce some interesting aspects for drilling. In one area serving the school campus, three wells were drilled in a triangle about 80 feet per side. Two of the wells have the same static water level, but the third is significantly different from the other two. The formations drilled are primarily soft or hard limestone, along with some sandstone and shale and other sedimentary materials. These formations are easily drilled using bentonite drilling fluids (mud). Other areas of Guatemala have formations consisting of harder rock like basalt, which is often seen in volcanic areas like much of Guatemala. Harder rock is more efficiently drilled with high-pressure air using a down-the-hole hammer. Regardless of the fluid (air or mud) used to drill, the difficulties begin when circulation of the fluid (mud or air) is lost in the voids and caverns found in these limestone formations. When this happens, the drill operator can no longer see the fluid returning to the surface and what it contains. This is called drilling blind. The danger of drilling blind is you have no idea where those drill cuttings are going. The cuttings could be safely floating into a void, or piling upward in the hole and encasing your drill rod, causing it to become stuck in the hole and making it difficult, or sometimes impossible, to remove from the hole. This makes for a challenging drilling environment. Presently, Water for Life drills wells using our 1972 Mayhew 1000 and two Bucyrus Erie 22W cable tool drills. These machines are old and in constant need of repairs and careful use. They work, but we need better. If you would like to help, contact Gary Bartholomew at 509-939-1941 Tim Tim Rasmussen may be contacted via e-mail to michele@worldwidedrillingresource.com WTR
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