ABSTRACT
There is an extensive literature and body of unpublished and uncelebrated practical experience with prevention and removal of clogging conditions in water supply wells. There is a large parallel body of experience in corrosion prevention in oil field and marine engineering systems. There is also a largely unpublished body of reports on the design, operation, and maintenance of monitoring and pumping wells on environmental sites. The quality of existing information varies greatly, and facility consultants or managers should not proceed based on armchair research alone. They should also take into account the experience now being gained by the companies and organizations that are actively performing well rehabilitation and maintenance. Based on this experience, there are several “ground truths” of well system operation and maintenance:
1. The best defense is to know about and acknowledge the presence of factors in the well and aquifer system that will cause clogging and corrosion (see Chapter 2). Knowledge can lead to either action or despair, but it will preferably lead to preventive action to the degree possible.
