Water Engineering WEG711S

Lecture, week 5A

Borehole pumps, aquifers and drawdown,

Solar panels for boreholes

Lecturer: Dr G C Cloete
Email address: gccloete@nust.na
Office number: E/3/4.227
Sources for municipal water:
For municipal purposes, there are several sources of water which can
be tapped for the end consumer, these include:

• Dams
• Rivers (direct abstraction)
• Lakes
• Groundwater
• Recycling or re-use of water
Sources for municipal water:
Well known application of these sources in Namibia are:

• Dams
• Von bach Dam for Windhoek
• Naute dam for Keetmanshoop
• Daan Viljoen Dam for Gobabis
• Calueque Dam for the towns up in the north
• Rivers (direct abstraction)
• Kavango River for Rundu and
• Orange River for Vioolsdrift
• Lakes
• Groundwater
• Tsumeb
• Windhoek
• Recycling or re-use of water
• Windhoek direct recycling plant (Goreangab since 1969)
What is an aquifer?
An aquifer is a saturated geological formation that contains and transmits
significant quantities of water under normal field conditions (Wikepedia).

Aquifers consist of homogeneous porous material, such as sand or gravel. These

are usually unconsolidated alluvial deposits.
Rock formations, with fissures or dissolved cavities, are also good aquifers: such
as sandstone, fractured basalt, limestone and conglomerates.
Conglomerates which have soluble rocks in their structure, such as limestone,
dolomite, or shellfish deposits, dissolve the soluble matter over time leaving
cavities in the conglomerate, forming karst.

Dense rock such as claystone or the Windhoek Schist do not produce good
aquifers since the rock is relatively soft and folds under pressure, filling and
densifying any fractures which could have held water.
 What is an aquifer?

Aquifers can be classified as follows:

• Unconfined aquifers
• Confined aquifers
• Perched aquifers
• Leaky aquifer
(Zekâi Şen, in Practical and Applied Hydrogeology, 2015. Elsevier)
What is an aquifer?

Aquifers can be classified as follows:

• Unconfined aquifers Windhoek and Tsumeb aquifers

• Confined aquifers Ohangwena aquifer
• Perched aquifers not readily found in Namibia
• Leaky aquifer
Unconfined aquifer

Aquifer
Confined aquifer

Aquifer
Perched aquifer
 Abstracting water from an aquifer
Water can be abstracted from underground using boreholes or excavated wells.

Excavated wells are only suitable in alluvial material where the phreatic zone is close to the
surface (a high water table)…..an example is the Fehlmann well, approximately 10m deep,
sunk into the Kuiseb aquifer which supplies water to Walvisbay.

Boreholes are more suitable for deep aquifers, which is mostly the case in Namibia.

• Boreholes drilled into unconfined aquifers are referred to as phreatic boreholes

• Boreholes drilled into confined aquifers are referred to as artesian boreholes (the
piezometric surface is higher than the confined aquifer, and in some cases could be
higher than ground level, in which case water will flow out the top of the borehole)
Boreholes
To determine the yield of a borehole, certain information is required which can be obtained from
pump tests.
Borehole constants obtained from pumping tests are:
• k the permeability constant in m/s
• T the transmissivity constant in m2/s

Typical k-values are Fine sand 0.1 x 10-3 m/s

Course sand 1.0 x 10-3 m/s
Gravel 10 x 10-3 m/s (Waterbou 354, Sinske, 1999)

However, for design purposes, k – values must be determined from drawdown pump testing on
boreholes which are equipped with at least two monitoring boreholes. Three to four monitoring
boreholes will produce a higher confidence in the results.

Transmissivity is a function of the permeability (k) and the depth of the aquifer (D):
D is in meter (m)

T = k x D m2/s
Borehole hydraulics for unconfined and confined aquifers
Borehole hydraulics for unconfined and confined aquifers
The discharge rate (Qp) is the product of the cylindrical discharge area (A) at radius (r) and the
velocity (V) at distance of the radiusThe discharge area Thiems equation to determine the yield
of a borehole, if the drawdown on the cone of depression has stabilised, is:
𝑄𝑝 = V.A (pump rate m3/s)
𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑉 = 𝑘. 𝐽 = k (dh/dr) (m/s)

Unconfined: Confined:
𝐴 = 2𝜋𝑟. ℎ (m2) 𝐴 = 2𝜋𝑟 . 𝐷 (m2)
𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝐴 𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 ℎ ≥ 𝐷

Thiem’s equations to determine the yield of a borehole follows:

(Note: it is only relevant if the drawdown on the cone of depression has stabilised)

ℎ 22 − ℎ 12 ℎ2 − ℎ1
𝑄𝑝 = 𝜋 𝑘 𝑟 𝑄𝑝 = 2𝜋 𝐷 𝑘 𝑟
2.3 log 2 2.3 log 2
𝑟1 𝑟1

(Waterbou 354, Sinske, 1999)

Borehole hydraulics for unconfined and confined aquifers
Since it is easier to measure drawdown in an observation borehole than to measure the height (h)
from the bottom of the aquifer, Thiem’s equations can be changed as follows:

Unconfined: Confined:
ℎ =𝐷−𝑠 ℎ1 + 𝑠1 = ℎ2 + 𝑠2
hence ℎ22 − ℎ12 = (𝐷 − 𝑠2)2 − (𝐷 − 𝑠1)2 hence ℎ2 − ℎ1 = 𝑠1 − 𝑠2
= 2D[(s1 – s12/2D) – (s2 – s22/2D)]
= 2D (s1’ – s2’)

𝑠1 − 𝑠2
𝑠 1′ − 𝑠 2′ 𝑄𝑝 = 2𝜋 𝐷 𝑘
𝑄𝑝 = 2𝜋 𝐷 𝑘 𝑟
𝑟 2.3 log 2
2.3 log 2 𝑟1
𝑟1

(Waterbou 354, Sinske, 1999)

Borehole hydraulics for unconfined and confined aquifers
From the adjusted Thiem equations, the permeability (k) can be expressed as follows:

Unconfined: Confined:

𝑟2 𝑟2
Qp 2.3 log Qp 2.3 log
𝑘= 𝑟1 𝑘= 𝑟1
2𝜋 𝐷(𝑠1′ − 𝑠2′ ) 2𝜋 𝐷(𝑠1 − 𝑠2)

𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 Qp = constant pump rate (m3/s)

D = Saturated thickness of the aquifer (m)
r = distance from production borehole to the observation borehole (m)
s = drop of waterlevel within cone of depression (m)
s’ = reduced drop in water level (m) ……..[s’ = s – (s2/2D)]

(Waterbou 354, Sinske, 1999)

Using Solar power for borehole pumping

Namibia Direct Normal Irradiance is

around 2500 to 3000 kWhr/m2
Concentrated Solar Power (CSP)
Photo Voltaic (PV)
Rosh-Pinah PV plant in the
south of Namibia.
It generates 5-megawatt of
electricity.
 Reduction in solar power cost

300

CSP
Price (ZARc/kWh)

200

PV

100 New coal

2011 2012 2013 2015

Courtesy: Prof van Niekerk

Wallenberg Research Centre
 PV efficiency is
46% increasing
Experimental: expensive

20%

Proven tech: commercially available at low

cost

Courtesy: Prof van Niekerk

Wallenberg Research Centre
 CSP is technically complex and
CSP is more expensive to operate

complex to
operate than
PV

High water demand for

Power block, like a normal
cooling and washing
coal fired power station for
mirrors
O&M
Photo Voltaic (PV) Solar power:
Determine the power demand for a borehole pump
Solar energy for PV panels is only available during daylight hours without cloud cover. Namibia, however,
has direct sunlight for 365 days per year with only limited cloud cover for a couple of days during rain
storms, usually in the afternoons.

The solar radiation on PV panels is less efficient if the sun does not shine directly onto the face of the
panel, i.e. if the PV panels are installed horizontally, and the sun rises in the east, only a fraction of the
electricity will be generated, compared to the position of the sun at 12h00 in the afternoon.

Therefore, for a fixed horizontal PV installation, the maximum power supply duration is approximately 6
hours per day.
For rotating PV panels, which follows the sun, the maximum energy duration can be increased to
approximately 8 hours.

Example for a pump design:

Assume a small settlement has an AADD of 45m3/day
To add some redundancy (a factor of safety) in the pump design, add 20% to the daily AADD
Therefore the adjusted AADD is 54m/day.
Photo Voltaic (PV) Solar power:
Determine the power demand for a borehole pump
The instantaneous pumping rate for 54m3 over 6 hours is 0.0025m3/s

Since this is the bulk water supply, which pumps water into a holding reservoir for the town, no peak factor
adjustment is required for the borehole pump: the peak demand for the settlement is handled by the
reservoir. Reservoir

For this case, the resting aquifer water level is at 25m below ground
level, the drawdown in the borehole during pumping is 5m. The 70m
reservoir is situated on a hill 70m higher than the ground level at
the borehole.
25m Borehole
Friction in the pipeline is given as 50m 5m
(the borehole pipe plus the supply pipe) Cone of
depression
Hs = 100m
Hf = 50m
Total pump head = 150m
Photo Voltaic (PV) Solar power:
Determine the power demand for a borehole pump

The pump efficiency is 70%

𝜌𝑔𝐻𝑄
Power demand 𝑃 =
𝜇
9810.150.(0.0025)
𝑃=
0.7

= 5.25kW

Solar radiation produces approximately 1000W of energy per square metre in Namibia
The solar panels used for this installation are 20% efficient, therefore 200W of electricity can be obtained
per one metre square of solar panel.

How many square metres of solar panels are required to produce 5.25kW of electricity?

Area of solar panels = 5.25kW/(0.2kW/m2) = 26.25m2

If the panels were provided in one metre square panels, then one would round up to 27 solar panels.
Photo Voltaic (PV) Solar power:
Points to take note of

• A solar pump motor is a DC motor, and not an AC motor. Therefore redundancy in the sizing of the
motor is not required (voltage drops due to cloud cover or other factors can be handled by the DC
motor, which is not the case for AC motors)
• The pump supplier will have tables for selection of pump head and motor size, to select the right pump
for the application.
• PV panels lose efficiency over several years. Therefore, ask the PV panel supplier what the loss in
efficiency is over the lifetime of the solar panels (say approximately 10% loss in efficiency over a 15 year
period). In this case the redundancy provided above must be more than the loss in panel efficiency to
make up for reduction in power supply over time.
• Add some redundancy to the daily demand so that slightly more water can be pumped over a 6 hour
period, than designed for (in the example a 20% factor of safety was included). This will cater for loss in
solar panel efficiency over time, and ensure that the system is slightly overdesigned, which is better
than being under-designed.
• Install a level switch in the reservoir to shut down the pump when the reservoir is full. Even if the sun is
still shining.