CHONGQING, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- "The school will have easy access to wells for getting drinking water in the future," teachers and students cheer at a primary school in Xiushan County of Chongqing, southwest China.
A geological team of the municipality's geology and mining authority used water exploration and drilling techniques to achieve a major breakthrough in Karst groundwater exploration and drilling.
They helped the primary school get rid of water shortage.
Chongqing has rich mountainous and hilly areas, with prominent Karst landforms and abundant water flowing through the city, said Du Chunlan, a senior engineer of hydraulic and environmental geology of the geological team. But it is difficult to develop and utilize water here.
The Karst area of Chongqing is close to 30,000 square kilometers, accounting for one-third of the city's jurisdiction area, according to a report by Science and Technology Daily. There are a large number of pipes, large corrosion cracks, and pores in the rock strata, and the precipitation will soon be converted into groundwater.
Previously, it took about 30 days to drill a well in the Karst area due to the complex geological structure, said Lyu Yuxiang, a deputy chief engineer with the geological team. And the water shortage often occurs in summer there. "We can't bear people waiting such a long time."
They improved the drilling technique to promote efficiency. The new technique shortens the average duration of a single-hole drilling to three days, drilling more than 20 meters per hour.
The Karst region has an uneven distribution of water resources, said Lyu. The transport and accumulation of Karst water has been a hot and difficult issue in the industry for a long time.
The successful rate of drilling water used to be only about 30 percent in Karst regions. Since 2006, the geological team has been engaged in water exploration and drilling. They increased the success rate up to 70 percent.
They have analyzed and summarized the accumulation of Karst groundwater, Karst water storage structure, and water exploration in southeast and northeast Chongqing, as well as identifying 26 water-rich blocks in the city's Karst areas.
The achievements were considered to enrich the hydrogeological theory and provide a reference for exploiting Karst groundwater.
Up till now, the geological team has compiled a water exploration standard in the Karst regions of Chongqing, conducted 13 Karst water supply demonstration projects, drilled 68 wells, and made drinking water easily accessible for more than 80,000 people. ■
