Installation of Horizontal Remediation Wells with Directional Drilling eliminates the headaches and hassles of extensive trenching.
By: Kyle Carlton, PG, Senior Geologist

The installation of Horizontal Remediation Wells (HRWs) depicted below avoided hundreds of feet of trenching around the building, which would have resulted in major site disruptions. In this scenario, HRWs extend directly from the remediation system into the petroleum contaminate plume.

HRWs extend directly from the remediation system into the petroleum contaminate plume

This site depicts a common challenge encountered by many environmental professionals. A small, active gasoline station site is impacted with petroleum hydrocarbons in the subsurface. The contaminate plume is located in a high-traffic area, beneath a canopy, and adjacent to active underground storage tanks. Accessing this area for remediation is difficult and intrusive to site activities. Traditional methods of remediation would require extensive trenching around the building to connect remediation wells to the system compound. The solution? Horizontal Remediation Wells installed by experienced environmental directional drillers.

If the more traditional method of remediation and vertical wells were used, the trenching activities would have been a thorn in the side for the site owner.

Problematic issues that could have arisen from trenching include the following:

  • Trenching is highly invasive to site activity
  • Saw cutting is required when trenching through paved surfaces, which is a danger to shallow subsurface utility lines and requires dust control measures
  • Open trenches are a trip/fall hazard for personnel at an active site
  • During installation trench plates, safety cones, caution tape and barricades are necessary to protect the trenching – all of which are unattractive features at an active site, especially at an open business trying to attract customers
  • Completion of trenches requires fill material, compaction, rebar, and concrete resurfacing – all at great cost to the project budget
  • Once completed, paving scars create permanent eyesores for the site owner, potentially reducing the property value
  • Trenches can subside over time in areas of high vehicular traffic, which creates tripping hazards and liability for the site owner

We know you always want to keep your client’s best interest in mind.
Eliminate the headache, hassle, cost, eyesores, and liability of extensive trenching by contracting Directional Technologies, Inc. to install horizontal remediation wells on your next projects.

HRWs have been utilized in the environmental industry for 25 years, and are a proven method for site remediation. Whether your remedial method is extraction or injection, HRWs can be installed anywhere beneath a site from a single-entry point located near the remediation system compound. Directional drilling installation of HRWs does not interrupt site activities, leaves no paving scars, and is safer for site personnel.

Typically, one HRW can provide the same radius of influence of multiple vertical remediation wells. Therefore, HRWs are cost effective when compared to traditional vertical well system installations, and HRWs routinely outperform vertical wells. Multiple case studies have shown that HRWs can efficiently reduce on-site O&M time and the overall duration of site remediation.