Water water everywhere

The work, published in the Pertanika Journal of Science and Technology, suggests which factors should be taken into account before drilling for industrial and residential water supplies, as groundwater becomes a more important resource worldwide.

Groundwater has been used for centuries, but its usage is still limited to shallow, unconfined aquifers using hand-dug wells, or deeper wells on coarse sand aquifers. With much of the country’s industry based on hard rock, Nasiman Sapari and colleagues from the Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS analysed data from 136 industrial tube well drillings into hard rock.

They found that these wells could yield up to 890 cubic metres per well per day – though the average was 343 cubic metres. 103 of the tube wells were productive, and the data show that those that penetrate weathered granite were generally non productive so these conditions can be avoided in future. Their analysis of the quality shows it is generally fresh water, with only 9% producing water harder than recommended for drinking. 42% had iron levels lower than the WHO standard.

Readily available groundwater has supported the development of industries and domestic water supply in remote areas. The authors believe that groundwater from fractured hard rocks has high potential to be exploited for water supply.

For more information on the research, contact

Nasiman Sapari
Department of Civil Engineering
Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS
Bandar Seri Iskandar, 31750 Tronoh
Perak, Malaysia

Email: nasiman@petronas.com.my
Tel: +(605) 3687 297; Mobile: +6016 555 6613.

About the Pertanika Journal of Science and Technology

Pertanika Journal of Science & Technology aims to provide a forum for high quality research related to science and engineering research. Areas relevant to the scope of the journal include: bioinformatics, bioscience, biotechnology and bio-molecular sciences, chemistry, computer science, ecology, engineering, engineering design, environmental control and management, mathematics and statistics, medicine and health sciences, nanotechnology, physics, safety and emergency management, and related fields of study.

The full paper can be downloaded using the links below.
http://www.pertanika.upm.edu.my/Pertanika%20PAPERS/JST%20Vol.%2020%20
(2)%20Jul.%202012/16%20Pg%20371-379.pdf

For more information about the journal, contact

The Chief Executive Editor
Journal Division
Office of the Deputy Vice Chancellor (R&I)
Tower 2, UPM-MDTC Technology Centre
Universiti Putra Malaysia
43400 Serdang, Selangor
Malaysia.

Phone: + (603) 8947 1622 | + (6) 016 217 4050
Email: ndeeps@admin.upm.edu.my