While drilling through the Edwards formation, the City of Buda shut down operation of Well #5 near the Garlic Creek Booster Station. The Aquifer Storage Recovery (ASR) well has been completed through the Edwards formation and sealed off to allow us to safely put Well #5 back in to operation while the crew continues to drill down into the Trinity formation. In order to place Well #5 back online, the City needed to flush the well to remove any sediment disturbed during drilling operations. A combination of air and water have been used throughout the drilling operation. No chemicals have been used to drill the ASR well. Due to the porous nature of the Edwards formation, a large amount of sediment has been removed via flushing operations and deposited behind silt fences placed around the work site. City crews have installed a secondary silt fence to contain as much sediment as possible from the flushing operations of Well #5. As soon as the well is safely brought back into use within the water system, sediment deposited from the flushing operations can be removed from the site.
More information on Aquifer Storage Recovery
A few years ago, the City of Buda started exploring Aquifer Storage Recovery (ASR) as a viable water storage option. A feasibility study was completed in 2016 and the Buda City Council later approved the drilling of an ASR pilot well near the Garlic Creek Booster Station and Well No. 5. Drilling of the well started this week.
Aquifer Storage and Recovery is where you store water from one source into a different aquifer formation. The City will take water from Well No. 5 which is an Edwards Aquifer well and we are going to store it in the Trinity Aquifer.
