Galway is a city in the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht. It is the county town of County Galway, which is named after it. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay, and is the sixth most populous city in Ireland, with a population at the 2016 Census of 79,934.
Around 13,000 homes in Galway have water supplied from a private water supply often a borehole well. Thousands more borehole water wells are drilled year to year in Ireland for private household water supplies.
Most private water wells either regularly or at some time in their working lifespans are polluted to some degree with either long term or immediate risk to human health because of
Well construction is not built to prevent or minimise the chance of external pollution
Wells are drilled close to sources of pollution such as sceptic tanks, farmyards, and fields
Older concrete sceptic tanks may develop cracks and leak out high levels of pollution
Turbulent surface water from heavy rainfall can put stress on well water and treatment systems.
In 2015 Ireland still has no statutory regulations or comprehensive guidelines regarding water well drilling. So there are no consistent standards of construction of borehole. Other countries around the world require prior permission for well water drilling, with specific standards of well construction and licensing of well drillers.
to achieve proper water well construction in rocks as diverse, weathered Devonian sandstones, fractured granites, deep highly altered dolomites in Tipperary, vast open karst caves in the Galway
As a general rule, a well should be located upslope from, and as far away as possible from, potential
sources of pollution. The safe distance depends on the nature of the subsoil, the depth to the water table, the
slope of the land, the rate of pumping, and the size of the pollution source.
Water well drilling in Galway is very important as it is a safe way to get water to your home.
Most water wells in Ireland are drilled using an air-hammer rotary rig. A few wells are
sometimes drilled using a cable-tool (percussion) rig.
Galway is a good place to drill water wells as it has weathered Devonian sandstones and these are very important for the drilling of water wells.
The Water well drilling equipment must be in good condition and appropriate for the terrain, expected site ground
conditions, and soils and rock anticipated. The equipment must include ancillary equipment suitable for
cement grout mixing and injection.
The Water well drilling equipment must be clean and free from contaminants which would otherwise be introduced
into the aquifer. All equipment should be cleaned by means of high-pressure hoses and/or steam, as
appropriate. Where equipment has been used in circumstances where it may have been contaminated,
e.g. by lying on ground recently occupied by livestock, it should be disinfected using appropriate
disinfectants approved by the Department of Agriculture & Food.