Our latest project took us down South to install groundwater bores for the purpose of monitoring water level and sampling water quality.

One of the key benefits of the drilling set has always been mobility – it has been up mountains, down gulleys and everywhere in between. This time we were asked to walk it into the wetland, which is not accessible for a conventional drill rig.

We were forewarned that the site was remote, overgrown and swampy and they weren’t kidding as we encountered thick Kanuka and Gorse and of course, soft ground underfoot – perfect for this piece of kit!!

Although the Drilling set is discrete and mobile, none of the team were relishing the idea of walking the equipment for hundreds of meters to each bore location. Our Knight in Shining Armour came in the form of our site overseer’s quad bike!

Once mobilisation of the gear was sorted, the drilling was smooth sailing. The lost cone equipment is a hollow casing with a drive point at the end of it. We drove the casing down to 6m and installed the piezometers inside the drill casing. The drill casing is then extracted leaving the wetland to fall in around the piezometer where the level loggers are installed.

We were able to install all six piezometers by mid-afternoon, so another project completed successfully by the team.