Projects

Multiport Monitor Wells

BSEACD_OverviewMap_webMultiport monitor wells have proven to be essential in tracking water quality and water levels in other portions of the District. The water level data helps provide a better understanding of how the individual layers of the aquifers interact and respond to recharge from rainfall and drawdown from drought and pumping. The data collected provide the basis for preserving groundwater quality and protecting existing wells from the effects of pumping from adjacent wells.   The wells use packers to isolate sampling zones to allow measurements to be made in different layers of the aquifer.  Three new multiport wells have been installed in 2016-2017 because of grant projects and collaborations with Hays and Travis Counties.

 

Multiport Monitor Wells:

Saline Edwards Multiport Well

Drilled:  2016
Total Depth:  1,095 feet
Number of Zones:  18

After years of planning and collaboration, and with support from Texas Disposal Systems, the Edwards Aquifer Authority, and a Regional Facilities Planning grant from the Texas Water Development Board, a multiport monitor well has now been installed in the saline Edwards Aquifer east of IH-35 near Creedmoor. District staff worked with experts from Westbay Instruments and the U.S. Geological Survey to log and equip the well. Drilling and well installation took place between August 3 and August 24, 2016.

The monitor well is 1,095 feet deep and goes from the Taylor Clay at the surface through the Edwards formations into the Upper Glen Rose formation.  It was constructed to isolate 18 individual zones with packers and sample ports to allow hydrogeologists to test and sample each zone independently.

This well is part of a broader study to evaluate the potential for desalination of the saline groundwater and for storage of freshwater as part of an aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) system.  With limited water resources in the area, alternate sources of water are being investigated.

Driftwood Multiport Well (Hays County)

Drilled:  2017
Total Depth:  850 feet
Number of Zones:  12

With growing demands on the Trinity Aquifer and recent annexation, the District partnered with Hays County to install a new multiport monitor well to increase knowledge about local hydrogeology. The Driftwood Multiport Monitor Well is 850 ft deep and has 12 independent sampling zones within the Upper and Middle Trinity Aquifers. The well will provide key data to help scientists better understand the movement of flow among and within the various aquifers, and will be an important long-term data resource for the region. The well is located in central Hays County in the Rolling Oaks subdivision near Driftwood. Hays County provided substantial support for the monitor well, and additional support for the well includes a location granted by the Wimberley Volunteer Fire and Rescue and access by surrounding neighbors.

Western Travis County Multiport Well

Drilled:  2017
Total Depth:  715 feet
Number of Zones:  11

With growing demands on the Trinity Aquifer, this monitor well will greatly increase the knowledge of the characteristics of the layers of rocks in the area. such precise monitoring will help to support informed decision making and better management of the shared groundwater resource. The District partnered with Travis County the the western Travis Co. multiport monitor well.  It is 715 ft deep and has 11 independent sampling zones from Middle and Lower Trinity Aquifers.