Water. Clean, fresh water. It’s the world’s single most important resource but one that many of us may take for granted.

…but not by the farmer who needs a guaranteed supply to produce their fruit and veg.

…not the greenkeeper whose fairways and greens get extremely thirsty during the summer months.

They, along with distilleries, factories and recycling plants (to name a few more) need water, and lots of it. But from where?

Public mains water is an option, but for larger consumers that can mean expensive water bills and heavy usage of a sometimes already stretched mains network.

Many instead seek to use the groundwater stored in the bedrock, beneath ground level on their property. This groundwater can be accessed via a borehole drilled into the bedrock, with a water pump near the bottom to continuously push groundwater to the surface.

This is a simple concept but there is more to it than initially meets the eye, especially for those who need large volumes of water. Before pressing ahead, it’s important to establish the answers to some key questions.

Is there water in the ground beneath my property?

How deep will the drilling contractor need to drill to find the water?

Is there sufficient ground water to meet my needs?

Is the water suitable? The groundwater needs to be fresh…salt water is of little to no use (NB: drilling beside the sea doesn’t automatically mean the groundwater will be saltwater…in our many years drilling for links golf courses by the sea, many of them have had successful boreholes installed producing large volumes of fresh water)

Is there a steady, continuous supply of groundwater from the bedrock or will it quickly run dry?

There are a few common approaches to answering these questions.

Some choose to engage a water diviner.

Our first step is usually to commission a chartered geologist to assess the ground conditions beneath the site. This helps to judge the potential likelihood of a water supply beneath the site and recommends areas within the site offering the best water potential for drilling.

No matter the initial methodology, the truth is that the only way you will gain certainty on the answers to the key questions, is to drill into the ground to check.

That’s where a probe borehole comes in.

The probe borehole involves one of our rig and crew drilling a small diameter borehole into the ground, and then to flush the water up to the surface with high-pressure air.

It also helps to inform us of the required specification of the equipment for the final production borehole, like the water pump. Water samples can also be collected for subsequent testing, helping to confirm that the water is clean and safe.

Simply put, commissioning a full production borehole without knowing the answers can often be a potentially expensive gamble, especially for those who require a larger supply.

The probe is about de-risking the project. It’s about certainty. It’s about not taking the answers for granted.

Hydracrat offers a 3-Stage Process to Establish Water Wells. The process puts the probe borehole at its heart and has helped thousands of clients since 1960.