A decades-old municipal well restored to +58% capacity

The well

An old well with a long working history: constructed by cable tool, rehabilitated in earlier decades by the explosive shooting methods standard at the time, with legacy steel debris at the bottom and a bridge partway down the borehole. Specific capacity had declined to 9.8 gpm/ft. Wells of this age and history are common in municipal fleets — and they are fully workable rehabilitation candidates when the job is staged correctly.

The treatment

1. Downhole video survey and gamma log to document the borehole and map the producing intervals.
2. Removal of the bridge; bailing out accumulated fill.
3. Superchlorination.
4. AirShock® rehabilitation of the producing intervals from roughly 230 ft to total depth, with 6" and 8" impulse generators at 1,900–3,000 psi — 39 hours of impulse treatment, pressure stepped to the well's response.
5. Bailing, then development by pumping and surging over several days, and a final superchlorination before return to service.

The result

The post-rehabilitation test ran clear with no sand across the full range of rates. The permanent pumping assembly confirmed the improvement — 15.5 gpm/ft — with passing bacteriological samples before the well returned to service.

Why it matters

Old cable-tool wells with complex histories are often assumed to be at the end of their life. This well returned to service at a specific capacity 58% higher than before treatment — without redrilling, on a staged program of diagnostics, mechanical preparation, and impulse rehabilitation matched to the well's own producing intervals.

Results depend on well construction, condition, geology, and correct system configuration. Every recommendation begins with the well's records and test data.