Horizontal wells

Alternative Water Supply Sources Utilizing Horizontal Well Technology

The 1998 wildfires in Volusia County brought to the forefront the need to find viable sources for water supply in rural areas where no municipal water supply exists. Horizontal well technology and its use for providing an efficient water supply for rural firefighting was brought to the attention of Volusia County Fire Rescue. This system offered the opportunity to recover and reuse water from the surficial aquifer.¹ Three demonstration wells with hydrants were installed at the Training Center in 1999 and demonstrated the wells ability to flow water at the gallon per minute rate needed for protection structures. Since 1999, County Fire Rescue has searched for funding sources to place wells in areas where structures mix with the Wildland interface.

Shallow surficial aquifers can provide alternative water supplies in most areas.

This resource, in the form of a surficial water lens, receives approximately 54 inches of rainfall recharge per year. The surficial water lens can extend downward to about 30 feet below the land surface. Water stored in the grains of sand in the lens can make this area as much as 30% liquid. The placement of a Horizontal Well screen in the surficial aquifer (plus the effects of the trenching that creates a preferential flow path through impermeable layers) creates a highly efficient means of recovering shallow groundwater. The entire length of the well screen is installed horizontally within the surficial aquifer. This groundwater source is not only recharged by rain, but also by a significant percentage of re-infiltrated irrigation water.²

In 2000, the Department of Community Affairs and Housing and Urban Development provided grant money to Volusia County for water supply in areas hardest hit by the 1998 wildfires.

Volusia County Fire Rescue proposed using the funds to install the horizontal well technology in the areas where structures mix with the wildland interface. Fifteen one-mile service areas were defined in the grant. These areas were originally determined in 1999, after the wildfires, when the horizontal well technology was demonstrated to County Fire Rescue. In addition to the grant criteria of wildland/urban interface application, Fire Rescue also followed County Land Development Code, which requires a 500-gallon per minute water flow from a hydrant that protects residential structure.

The following horizontal wells with hydrants have been installed in Volusia County:

• Emporia Road southwest of intersection with Peterson Road

• Treebrooke Road and Blueberry Lane

• Pioneer Art Settlement, Lemon Road

• Cemetery Road and Park Road

• State Road 11, one-quarter mil north of Reynolds Road

• Crestridge Road, across from 4010 Crestridge

• Colony Road, west of 4443 Colony Road

• Pine Cone Drive, near 349 Pine Cone Drive

• 234 Pine Woods Drive

• Fieser Lane and Lake Winona Road

• Saddle Club Drive and State Road 415, outside gate

• 3889 Tiger Bay Rd. (4)

¹  Used with permission, © 2001, Horizontal Subsurface Systems, Inc.
²  Used with permission, © 2001, Horizontal Subsurface Systems, Inc.

Volusia County Fire Rescue is grateful to the residents in these areas who granted permission for the installation of these wells on private property. The wells will reduce the turnaround time for tenders bringing water to supply fire engines working structure fires or protecting structures in these areas.