Drilling Update--Slow and Steady

Most of you know that our native soil is thick and gray, perhaps better for statues and pottery than for growing grass.  It also makes well drilling a slow and cumbersome task.  The text below is an update shared by General Manager, Mike Spayd who has kept a close eye on rig's progress.

Dear Board and Water Committee Members:

Progress has been very slow the last two days as the drill bit continues to get bound up in the sticky blue clay that it has been moving through for the last three days.  We are currently at 285 feet; a gain of only 35 feet from yesterday, after only 50 feet for the day before.  The clay has forced the drilling crew to pull out of the hole repeatedly to clean off the clay and free up the mechanism to begin drilling again.  Each extraction takes about an hour and a half, then the cleaning and then another hour and a half to get back down to where the drill bit was before.    

Drilling will resume on Monday with a different shaped bit which will hopefully allow them to speed up the process.

Hoping to pass on better news next time,

Mike

A clean bit.

Jim Stehly cleaning the bit for over twenty minutes.

If drilling through clay is this difficult than it should be even slower when we hit rock, right?  Actually, I'm told that 300-500 feet per day is the norm during air hammer drilling through granite.  We are not quite sure when we'll find rock, but everyone, especially the men operating the drill rig, will be very happy about the change of pace.  Keep watching the blog for updates and you will be one of the first people to know.