Water Well Abandonment in Dixie Valley, Nevada

Water wells plugged and abandoned by LGS for the US Navy on the Dixie Valley Electronic Warfare Range , northern Nevada.
Pulling a turbine pump from an abandoned irrigation well on the Dixie Valley Electronic Warfare Range in northern Nevada.
The turbine pump column and shaft must be pulled up and cut off in 20-foot sections to remove it from the well.
After the breaks in the casing were repaired the well was fitted with a new head assembly so the the flow could be controlled and the well used in the future.

Lahontan GeoScience located, removed pumps, and abandoned over 70 water wells for the US Navy at the Electronic Warfare Range in Dixie Valley, Nevada. These wells ranged from illegally-constructed shallow domestic wells to 16-inch diameter, 400-foot-deep irrigation wells with turbine pumps. Many of these wells were flowing uncontrolled to the surface due to casing breaks or failure of well seals. Often these flowing wells had created marshes that had to be drained before heavy equipment could be moved in to plug and abandon the wells. The well abandonment process involves removing all obstructions from the well casing, ripping the casing from the top of the well screen to the surface seal and pumping in cement to permanently seal the well. Some wells at this location were able to be repaired so the Navy could use them in the future.