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Columbia's 'magic' well Diversion pipes for testing and flushing before recovery Flow of water - into well Treated and softened drinking water is pumped from a treatment plant through a water main. At the site of a converted well house, it is diverted into an aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) well and pumped 1,500 feet underground into an aquifer. There it displaces the existing hard groundwater and essentially forms a bubble. Sixty million gallons of water are stored at this particular well site. When the water is needed, 2 million gallons per day can be pumped immediately into the water grid without retreatment. Motor -Valves Control and monitoring equipment +To water main Sand collar Outer casing Pump shaft Bearing Underlying rock aquifers and confining units (vertical scale is greatly exaggerated) Impellers used to draw water from well Advantages to ASR wells • The biggest advantage is cost. Columbia spent $325,000 to convert an old well into an ASR well that stores 60 million gallons of water. Purchasing land for treatment facilities and equipment for above-ground storage is significantly more expensive. Surface water as a source Relying on surface water for water supply can be difficult without adequate storage facilities. As the charts below indicate, the greatest amounts of rainfall don't occur during the months demand for water is at its highest. Droughts and variable rainfall throughout the Ozarks can also contribute to difficulties in meeting demand. - Strainer Pump- Existing groundwater Injected drinking water • ASR wells are also more efficient in terms of storing water. Evaporation rates vary by various weather conditions, but within the last three months Stockton Lake (from which City Utilities draws a large portion of its water) lost an average of 10 percent of its inflow per day to evaporation. The high rate fora given day during that same period was 42 percent and the low was 1 percent. Base rock Springfield's average daily water demand by month Why does it work? In what is called a piezometric response, the injected water displaces existing groundwater because it is under relatively greater pressure. 50 million gallons 40 30 20 • An added advantage of storing water underground is that it elevates the pressure in the aquifer and can help to minimize nearby cones of depression that can result from over-pumping of groundwater from other wells. 10 ONDJ F MAMJJAS 2005 2006 Average monthly rainfall at airport Disadvantages to ASR wells • Surrounding springs and losing streams that naturally drain aquifers problems when the injected water found in the Ozarks raise the possibility puts normally dormant materials such that the stored water would seep away. A feasibility study and site specific surveys would need to be conducted of these minerals have been detected in the before any of these types of wells could be installed in the Springfield area. 6 inches of rainfall • Other ASR wells throughout the country have encountered as arsenic into solution. This can result in increased costs for retreatment. However, none ONDJFMAMJJAS course of Columbia's ASR well operation. SOURCES: CITY OF COLUMBIA WATER AND LIGHT DEPARTMENT, CHZM HILL CITY UTILITIES, NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICES, U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PETE SMITH / PSMITHONEWS-LEADER.COM / NEWS-LEADER GRAPHIC Columbia's 'magic' well Diversion pipes for testing and flushing before recovery Flow of water - into well Treated and softened drinking water is pumped from a treatment plant through a water main. At the site of a converted well house, it is diverted into an aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) well and pumped 1,500 feet underground into an aquifer. There it displaces the existing hard groundwater and essentially forms a bubble. Sixty million gallons of water are stored at this particular well site. When the water is needed, 2 million gallons per day can be pumped immediately into the water grid without retreatment. Motor -Valves Control and monitoring equipment +To water main Sand collar Outer casing Pump shaft Bearing Underlying rock aquifers and confining units (vertical scale is greatly exaggerated) Impellers used to draw water from well Advantages to ASR wells • The biggest advantage is cost. Columbia spent $325,000 to convert an old well into an ASR well that stores 60 million gallons of water. Purchasing land for treatment facilities and equipment for above-ground storage is significantly more expensive. Surface water as a source Relying on surface water for water supply can be difficult without adequate storage facilities. As the charts below indicate, the greatest amounts of rainfall don't occur during the months demand for water is at its highest. Droughts and variable rainfall throughout the Ozarks can also contribute to difficulties in meeting demand. - Strainer Pump- Existing groundwater Injected drinking water • ASR wells are also more efficient in terms of storing water. Evaporation rates vary by various weather conditions, but within the last three months Stockton Lake (from which City Utilities draws a large portion of its water) lost an average of 10 percent of its inflow per day to evaporation. The high rate fora given day during that same period was 42 percent and the low was 1 percent. Base rock Springfield's average daily water demand by month Why does it work? In what is called a piezometric response, the injected water displaces existing groundwater because it is under relatively greater pressure. 50 million gallons 40 30 20 • An added advantage of storing water underground is that it elevates the pressure in the aquifer and can help to minimize nearby cones of depression that can result from over-pumping of groundwater from other wells. 10 ONDJ F MAMJJAS 2005 2006 Average monthly rainfall at airport Disadvantages to ASR wells • Surrounding springs and losing streams that naturally drain aquifers problems when the injected water found in the Ozarks raise the possibility puts normally dormant materials such that the stored water would seep away. A feasibility study and site specific surveys would need to be conducted of these minerals have been detected in the before any of these types of wells could be installed in the Springfield area. 6 inches of rainfall • Other ASR wells throughout the country have encountered as arsenic into solution. This can result in increased costs for retreatment. However, none ONDJFMAMJJAS course of Columbia's ASR well operation. SOURCES: CITY OF COLUMBIA WATER AND LIGHT DEPARTMENT, CHZM HILL CITY UTILITIES, NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICES, U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PETE SMITH / PSMITHONEWS-LEADER.COM / NEWS-LEADER GRAPHIC

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shared by petesmit on Sep 27
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An infographic that details the process by which a water utility can store treated drinking water simply by pumping it back into the ground

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