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Test Pumping

Test pumping requirements should be matched to borehole purpose while taking into account the importance of data to improve the understanding of hydrogeology and water resources. Drilled wells must be developed until the water if free of solids and fine materials (fines).

What do we know?

Doyen (2003) estimates that 7% savings would be possible in Kenya if a 3-hour, rather than a 24-hour discharge and 12 hour recovery was used to test pump rural handpump wells.  The high standards test pumping requirements are intended to obtain as much hydrogeological information about the aquifer in the vicinity of the borehole as possible. Doyen (2003) states that although per meter drilling costs in Kenya fell by 35% between 1988 and 1996, the increased standards for well development, pump testing and well design increased costs by as much as 36% with the result that there were no net savings.

Tanzania specifies a 24-hour pumping test (Baumann, 2005).  In Nigeria, pumping tests have been matched to borehole purpose for several years.  In the basement complex pumping takes 2 to 6 hours followed by 6 hours of recovery monitoring. 

References