This practice for the design and installation of groundwater monitoring wells will promote (1) efficient and effective site hydrogeological characterization; (2) durable and reliable well construction; and (3) acquisition of representative groundwater quality samples, groundwater levels, and hydraulic conductivity testing data from monitoring wells. The practices established herein are affected by governmental regulations and by site-specific geological, hydrogeological, climatological, topographical, and subsurface geochemical conditions. To meet these geoenvironmental challenges, this practice promotes the development of a conceptual hydrogeologic model prior to monitoring well design and installation.

A properly designed and installed groundwater monitoring well provides essential information on one or more of the following subjects:

Formation geologic and hydraulic properties;

Potentiometric surface of a particular hydrologic unit(s);

Water quality with respect to various indicator parameters; and

Water chemistry with respect to a contaminant release.

1.1 This practice describes a methodology for designing and installing conventional (screened and filter-packed) groundwater monitoring wells suitable for formations ranging from unconsolidated aquifers (i.e., sands and gravels) to granular materials having grain-size distributions with up to 50 % passing a #200 sieve and as much as 20 % clay-sized material (i.e., silty fine sands with some clay). Formations finer than this (i.e., silts, clays, silty clays, clayey silts) should not be monitored using conventional monitoring wells, as representative groundwater samples, free of artifactual turbidity, cannot be assured using currently available technology. Alternative monitoring technologies (not described in this practice) should be used in these formations

1.2 The recommended monitoring well design and installation procedures presented in this practice are based on the assumption that the objectives of the program are to obtain representative groundwater samples and other representative groundwater data from a targeted zone of interest in the subsurface defined by site characterization.

1.3 This practice, in combination with proper well development (D5521), proper groundwater sampling procedures (D4448), and proper well maintenance and rehabilitation (D5978), will permit acquisition of groundwater samples free of artifactual turbidity, eliminate siltation of wells between sampling events, and permit acquisition of accurate groundwater levels and hydraulic conductivity test data from the zone screened by the well. For wells installed in fine-grained formation materials (up to 50 % passing a #200 sieve), it is generally necessary to use low-flow purging and sampling techniques (D6771) in combination with proper well design to collect turbidity-free samples.

1.4 This practice applies primarily to well design and installation methods used in drilled boreholes. Other Standards, including Guide D6724 and Practice D6725, cover installation of monitoring wells using direct-push methods.

1.5 The values stated in inch-pound units are to be regarded as standard, except as noted below. The values given in parentheses are mathematical conversions to SI units, which are provided for information only and are not considered standard.

1.5.1 The gravitational system of inch-pound units is used when dealing with inch-pound units. In this system, the pound (lbf) represents a unit of force (weight), while the unit for mass is slugs.

1.6 This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety and health practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use.

1.7 This practice offers a set of instructions for performing one or more specific operations. This document cannot replace education or experience and should be used in conjunction with professional judgment. Nat all aspects of this practice may be applicable in all circumstances. This ASTM standard is not intended to represent or replace the standard of care by which the adequacy of a given professional service must be judged, nor should this document be applied without consideration of a project's many unique aspects. The word “Standard” in the title of this document means only that the document has been approved through the ASTM consensus process.