TABLE DES MATIÈRES DU BULLETIN DE 1956 A 1960 / CONTENTS OF THE BULLETIN 1956–1960

Abstract

Piezometers and wells installed for water quality monitoring are frequently used to assess the saturated hydraulic conductivity (K) in the surrounding formation. A series of recovery tests was conducted to evaluate how purging, required to obtain representative water quality samples, affected measured values of hydraulic conductivity in 15 newly installed and undeveloped piezometers placed to between 2 and 15 m depth (in oxidized and unoxidized material) in a loamy glacial till (K range from 10^?6 to 10^?9 m s^?1). Piezometers were purged between 9 and 11 times for sampling over a period of five months. The effect of the purgings on piezometer development was evaluated by changes in slope of the water level recovery curves which were used to calculate hydraulic conductivity. The first five purgings following piezometer installation increased K in the 15 piezometers by an average of 34%. The average increase in a value of K after 10 purgings was 44%. Values measured for hydraulic conductivity in a 75 mm diameter auger hole appeared stable after four purgings but piezometers installed in larger diameter boreholes (100 mm to 280 mm) snowed increases in K with up to 10 purgings. The hydraulic conductivity determined for piezometers installed at a 30° angle to the vertical showed greater variability than was observed in the adjacent vertically installed piezometers at the same depth.