What is it?
The drilling fluid is a thick mix of water and other things. It does two main things:
- It paints the inside of the borehole wall preventing the drilling fluid leaking but more importantly it stops the walls from collapsing
- It suspends or floats the cuttings within it. The cuttings are then carried to the surface, the cuttings are carried with it and then left in the soak pit at ground level
Used Ideas
An excellent description of the above options currently in use can be found in chapter 5 of the UNICEF/Practica manual 'Understanding Groundwater & Wells' published here. |