Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECTIVE FACTORS IN DESTRUCTION OF WATER EXPLOITATION WELLS IN SALMAS PLAIN

Esfandiyar Abbas Novinpoor and Ehsan Alizadeh

Abstract

According to the statistics about 50 percent of water consumption for drinking, agriculture and industry supplies from groundwater resources. Recently, due to the climatic changes, decrement in precipitation and increasing demand for water because of population growth has caused a drop in groundwater level and increased the number of drilled wells in the plains of province. At ending parts of Salmas and Choupanloo plains, sands of wells and chemical corrosion of pipes cause rapid destruction of wells. Most of the wells in the study area have been drilled in alluvial deposits (discontinuous rocks). Drilling wells in alluvial deposits especially in fine-grained alluvial sediments need to perform and detailed design of wells and stages of development and completion of them. In order to identify vulnerable areas and also reasons of early destruction of wells resulted from sand, it was necessary to conduct investigations. According to the studies and considering that the project manager practically was active in the process of drilling, consultation with drilling companies and after obtaining information from the regional water authority, vulnerable areas were identified. Most of these areas are located at the end of Urmia Lake catchment near the shores. In these areas, some of deep drilled wells were destroyed due to presence of sands and owners of the wells, regardless of its causes, attempted to drill other wells instead of repairing damaged wells. The rapid increase in the number of wells and short lifetime and the cost of extracted water especially at ending parts of Salmas plain, this region is selected in order to conduct investigations.