Siting
Whilst you are pretty much guaranteed finding water anywhere in Melbourne and many parts of Victoria, if the customer wishes I can site a bore using the old fashioned divining method. I offer this as a free service for my customers. Although I do not guarantee water, my success rate is pretty good. I will never claim to be able to 'find' water. What I am finding are fractures or variations in the strata which should be carrying water.

If you would prefer to get second opinion or an independent geophysical survey done, checkout the links page or the yellow pages for geologists and other water diviners. Under no circumstances will we guarantee the quality or quantity of the water.

Drilling
We offer a range of bores from 2" (50mm) environmental bores, ultra narrow diameter bores of 3" (80mm), 4" (100mm) stock and domestic bores, 5" (125mm) small irrigation bores and 6" (150mm) to 8" (200mm) larger irrigation bores drilled to a depth of up to 200m, fully cased, sealed and cemented.

The standard diameter for a stock and domestic or small irrigation bore is 4" or 100mm diameter which, with the correct 4" submersible pump installed can deliver up to 1000gph or 84L/m. The average garden sprinkler uses around 7-10L/m of water and a garden hose 16-20L/m, so as you can see by the above figures, these narrow diameter bores can deliver more than enough water for a domestic supply and even small scale irrigation.

When we have completed the job, we will give you a bore completion report and also send a sample of water to ALS laboratories for analysis. We do not recommend installing a pump until you have the results of this test and know what the quality of your water is as water high in salinity can have disastrous effects on a garden.

Drilling in Zimbabwe

All bores will come with a lifetime guarantee on construction and workmanship.

Capacity Testing
Whilst we can give a pretty good estimate on the bores yield during drilling and development (post drilling), to obtain an accurate figure a capacity test will need to be carried out. This involves installing a test pump in the bore and pumping it for a pre-determined period of time (usually 3 - 5 hours for stock and domestic) whilst monitoring the draw-down of the water level in the bore.

Old Bores
Rehabilitation (cleanouts) of old bores that have lost productivity are carried out by various methods ranging from mechanical to chemical methods or a combination of these methods. Sometimes a simple blow-out is all that is needed (min charge of 2hr @ $250/hr).

Bore reconstruction can also be carried out in an attempt stop inflow of sand and mud into bores that have been poorly constructed or where the lining has corroded or split although this can be a costly exercise and the success rate is usually low. It is usually recommended that a new bore be drilled for which a Bore Construction License (relacement bore) will be required (contact your local authority for details).

A follow-up capacity test is usually carried out prove the success of rehabilitation or reconstruction and to clear any contaminants before reinstalling the bore pump.

Because the time taken to carry out these processes can vary from several hours to several days, prices are charged at an hourly rate. In some cases it is more cost effective to de-commission the old bore and drill a new one as there is no guarantee of success in reconstruction.