Nowadays, we are more environmentally conscious than ever. Our impact on the environment is becoming more scrutinised than previous as we are learning more about the importance of caring for our world. We want to ensure we act as environmentally friendly as possible, and geotechnical drilling is no exception.
Prior to any drilling project and before any planning permissions can be granted, an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) must be carried out. The team at Borehole Solutions, one of the leading geotechnical companies within the UK, want to explain the importance of these assessments and discuss how environmentally friendly boreholes are.
What is an EIA?
Here at Borehole Solutions, we prioritise caring for the land and ensuring we act in an environmentally friendly manner. In fact, for every project that we work on, we perform an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). This EIA is used to determine whether environmental issues may arise as a result from proposed work. This could potentially be in terms of groundwater quality or damage to native flora and fauna. The range of assessments is incredibly broad, so if you are looking to carry out any form of geotechnical project, then the chances are that you will have to complete an EIA of some description.
How do Water Well Boreholes Impact the Environment?
Boreholes can be used for multiple reasons – some of which are to aid in protecting the environment. For example, a geotechnical site survey or a small window sample can help to discover information about the land. This method can be used to check for harmful contaminants, such as asbestos or polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Following these tests, the land can be remediated by removing these pollutants and other harmful materials from the environment.
Water well boreholes are used to access groundwater. People tend to worry that drilling into the groundwater could pollute the water source. However, the EIA should ensure that there is no risk of contaminating the groundwater, providing that best practices are followed when drilling. This means we guarantee that we are working in an environmentally friendly manner at all times during the project.
In addition, using water from a borehole can reduce a business’ carbon footprint as well as their emissions by up to 90%! A large water user (around 80 million litres per year) could reduce their carbon footprint by over 22,000 kg CO2 every year, compared to using treated mains water!
There are regulations in place that state that you can extract up to 20,000 litres of water a day without an abstraction license. This is equivalent to 7.3 million litres a year! However, if this was bad for the environment, then surely the government would intervene!
In conclusion, as we have explained, boreholes are environmentally friendly. They are not bad for the environment at all, and if anything, they are good for it!
Contact Us
If you would like to find out more about our EIAs or water well services, then get in touch with us today! We would love to hear from you. Borehole Solutions also offer a range of other geotechnical drilling services, including sonic drilling, cable percussion drilling and rotary drilling. Contact us on 01733 200501 or email us at info@boreholesolutions.com.
