deep hole driller 1 2013 6 plies more pullback force with the same hydraulic pressure as before By increasing hydraulic pump fow to the cylinders the TH60 maximum fastfeed speed is now up to 150 feet per minute 455 mmin Johnson also noted the T3W rig s weight was greater because of its extra engine In some places we just weren t able to gain access as easily as we can with the TH60 And I think we just couldn t do before what we can do now Crystal Mountain On this day Johnson was on site at a new home being built i n Crystal Mountain a residential subdivision of Round Mountain w hich is 35 miles w est of A us tin The water below is in the vast karst system of the El lenbur ger Formation which dips southeast toward Austin The karst was formed from carbonate deposits that built up during the Ordovician period more than 440 million years ago back when T exas was a shal low water ocean and the equator ran across Northern Canada T exas regulation s require water wells to be cemented for the frst 10 feet of an 8inch hole which Apex would generally contin ue from w ith a 65inch drag bit in gray white limestone However this water dis trict calls for additional grouting to 50 feet Apex then continued to 100 feet with the drag bit switching at that point to a 6inch Atlas Copco Secoroc QL 60 hammer with Atlas Copco 6125inch concave spherical button bit The water here is found in fractures within the dol om i t i c l i m e st one Hi t a fracture there s water Johnson said Ill hit sev eral of them I log them so when we set casing I know where the best place to put the screen is Jo h n so n wa s f i n d i n g t h e frst f ra c t u re b e t we e n 172 and 190 feet 52 to 58 m That frst fracture at this jobsite was producing only about 2 to 25 gpm As he encountered it the drill st r i n g st ut t e r e d f or a c o u ple of revolution s It real ly grabs at the bit he said Johnson was adding water at a half gallon a minute Y ou have to add the water There s a dry silty clay that likes to blow up in a big cloud of dust So we keep it wet the whole way Plus it helps to keep the hammer and bit cool Johnson kept his eye on the cuttings pointing to the dischar ge as it turned pink T a n c hi ps we r e o ka y t o o bu t Ape x h a d learned to associate pink cuttings here with the highest water quantity J ohnson continued on to 400 feet to tal depth As the hole was being cased to the bottom with 20foot lengths of 5inch OD 45 ID PVC he set the factoryslot ted PVC SDR17 screen at around 300 feet where a fracture was producing up to 17 gallons per minute Becker said theyd seen bores in this formation produce anywhere from 3 to 60 gpm Be cker said they average 200 to 250 wells a year with most of their upcoming jobs between Aust in a nd San Antoni o Apex at tim es goes as far as 150 mile s in its range but generally jobs are within an 80mile ra dius Since drilli ng its frst wells at Crystal Mountain Apex has already completed 50 or so for the community with 20 more to do this year Andy Johnson knows hes hit the good stuff when the water starts to come up pink The best quality and quantity of water lies in this part of the formation The coloring is temporary caused by the fnes and chips being made during drilling operations The r ock her e is mostly dolomitic limestone some of which comes up as lar ger chips like the fragments shown her e as the bit makes its way thr ough several lar ge water pr oducing fractur es