Groundwater Sampling Methods
by: Sebastien Fortin, E.I.T., M.Sc.
Multi-Level Piezometer Sampling
Defining the extent of groundwater contaminant plume in geologic materials requires three dimensional analysis of sampling points. Westbay has developed a sampling system which addresses this need. Their system embodies a modular casing system which allows a large number of monitoring zones to be established in a single borehole. Valved port couplings provide access to individual zones from a common casing. Individual screened intervals are isolated by packers. There are several key benefits associated with this system, namely significantly reduced installation costs, and virtual elimination of purgewater.
Certain multiport samplers making use of packers can also be combined with a single, direct-push-installed well to collect groundwater from a range of depths.
The USEPA developed a standard operating procedure (SOP) to describe the process for sampling of multi-completion monitoring wells using the Westbay MP SystemŽ for the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Environmental Restoration Project (ER).
Other multi-level groundwater sampling systems are commercially available. For example, the FLUTe system is mostly used for deeper applications in stable holes (e.g., core holes in fractured rock or multi screened casing in unstable media).
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