STANDARDIZING BOREHOLE DRILLING ACTIVITIES IN NIGERIA

1. STANDARDIZING BOREHOLE DRILLING ACTIVITIES IN NIGERIA

2. EVOLUTION OF BOREHOLE DRILLING ACTIVITIES • Availability of water still far below demand • Majority of big water schemes are surface water or ground water based • Decreasing funding, increased capital outlay for new schemes, inadequate funding of routine maintenance, spare parts flight and sparse turn around maintenance of existing schemes necessitated dependence on boreholes • Proliferation of borehole is the quick emergency solution • Groundwater development and borehole drilling is thus demand driven. • Little development activities by Government, associations or individuals to control, regulate or legislate the sector • Borehole drilling is proliferated by all comers who own rig, has access to a rig and with little knowledge of geology and drilling technology.

3. Borehole Drilling Activities – The Present. • New innovations and methods to reduce cost and construction time coming up to the front burner. • Rig/compressor in basement while rig/auger in transition/sedimentary formation with rotary drilling as most prevalent method • No Institution, Association or Government organ actively coordinating and controlling hence practitioners are many and drilling indiscriminately/ • Geophysical surveys, casing and plumbing materials, submersible pumps and cabling, finished borehole quality are not being monitored • Despite the above, demand for boreholes is still tremendous and available drillers cannot meet demand. No consideration for registration and references , thus Quacks are thriving. • Unproductive or failed boreholes ,poor quality service, unprofessional conducts, poor workmanship, poor material use abound.

4. MAJOR TYPES OF BOREHOLES DRILLED IN NIGERIA • Two categories • Domestic – drill depth not more than 100m and casing size 4-8ins • Industrial – drill depth more than 100m and minimum casing size is 10ins • Boreholes are typed according to 3 geological formations – Sedimentary formation, Transition zone and Basement formation. • Primary drilling techniques employed are rotary air percussion, cable tool percussion, mud rotary drilling, jetting and manual drilling • Prevalent three water well designs- • Type 1 – complete lining and plug at the bottom • Type 2 – Filter packed water well in unconsolidated formation • Type 3 – Telescopic water well design

5. EIGHT (8) CORNERSTONE STANDARDS • Geophysical survey standard • Standards for borehole Cost/Sub soil material and Depth • Borehole casing standard • Borehole pumps/riser pipes/cable Standard • Borehole Drilling Agreement Standard • Completed Borehole Standard • Equipment Financing Standard • Manpower and Human Resources Standard

6. REMARKS AND CONCLUSSION • Actors in the industry discussing and deliberating to bring credibility to the sector is laudable. • Immediate concerns arising from experience garnered on the field should be articulated and collated. • Practitioners contributions should form building blocks for the formulation of standards that will be embellished with existing codes and theoretical principles. • Development of Nigeria’s groundwater resources is at infancy hence its exploration and exploitation is exploitative without due regard to protection and replenishment. Therefore, quacks must be eliminated to protect the resources. • Standardization will control and ensure proper completion of boreholes. • AWDROP should champion this standardization cause by developing her own standards which will be adopted by all members

7. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION.