ABOUT THE COURSE

Are you a development or humanitarian water engineer who needs to know more about hydrogeology? Have you come back from the field, wishing you knew more about how to manage well siting, drilling rigs and drilling programmes? Is hydrogeology part of your job but you would like more of a practical understanding? Led by renowned specialists, this course aims to develop knowledge of groundwater, water well siting, drilling supervision, well design.

The course is generously supported by a number of companies and charities providing equipment and demonstrations including Cranfield University (course facilities and field equipment), Forterra (access to a local quarry), Marriott Drilling (Rotary drilling), Geomatrix (electrical geophysical equipment), In-Situ Europe (water level data loggers), Palintest (microbiological and chemical test kits) and Boode (well screen and drilling supplies). This is an intensive and highly practical course providing as much hands-on experience as possible over the course of four days.

COURSE STRUCTURE

The course will be run over 4 days including 2.5 days of practical hands-on field experience covering field and site assessments; using geophysics for well siting; carrying out water well drilling supervision; and undertaking pumping tests and water quality field testing. There are 1.5 workshop days covering groundwater theory, well siting, borehole design and pumping test data analysis to put this practical experience into context.

This course is a collaboration between RedR UK, Cranfield University and Groundwater Relief. Course presenters and facilitators are senior Hydrogeologists with extensive international experience.

DAY 1: SITE ASSESSMENT AND BOREHOLE DESIGN

Introduction to hydrogeology

Borehole design

Site assessment

Hydrogeological appraisal in the field

Setting up of Drilling Rig

DAYS 2 AND 3: SUPERVISION AND CONSTRUCTION OF WATER WELLS

Drilling Supervision of a rotary rig

Materials, methods, sampling and record keeping (logging drill cuttings, well consumables, well development)

Electrical geophysical surveying methods

Well installation and development

DAY 3: POST-DRILLING SITE ACTIVITIES

Borehole completion and development

Pumping test – using other boreholes on site

On-Site water quality testing (physio-chemical /microbiological)

DAY 4: THE BIGGER PICTURE

Test pumping theory and interpretation of field data (workshop)

Siting boreholes – a case study from the African Basement complex (workshop)

Design of boreholes in hard rock

Groundwater recharge

Please meet our trainers

Geraint Burrows is a hydrogeologist and WASH engineer with 15 years’ experience managing small to large scale groundwater supply projects all over Africa and Asia. Previously he worked for organisations such as the International Rescue Committee, Médecins Sans Frontières, Oxfam and UK Environment Agency. Since 2016 Geraint has directed Groundwater Relief, a charity that links groundwater expertise from within the private, public and academic sectors to the aid and development sectors.  

Prof Richard Carter has 45 years' experience in groundwater and surface water development, rural drinking water services as well as sanitation and hygiene, and farmer-managed irrigation.  His efforts have mainly focused on sub-Saharan Africa, and he has worked in higher education, research and consultancy for a range of academic, NGO and private sector employers.  He is full-time Director of his own consultancy firm.  He won the Applied Hydrogeology award of the International Association of Hydrogeologists in 2016.  Rocks, holes in the ground, and water have been among his lifelong fascinations.

Dr Alison Parker is a Senior Lecturer in International Water and Sanitation at Cranfield University. She has 15 years’ experience in water, sanitation and hygiene but has had a focus on groundwater in the UK, Kenya and India, leading research grants from EPSRC and NERC on managed aquifer recharge. As a classically trained geologist, she loves looking at rocks!

Peter Dumble is an Independent Hydrogeologist specialising in groundwater monitoring. His practical experience of 40+ years is informed by parallel careers in consultancy and in building a business supplying groundwater monitoring equipment. He now uses his skills to support development work, encourage research and in the delivery of practical training courses covering water well drilling, groundwater quality sampling and water level monitoring. His ideal day-out is on-site supervising a drilling rig.

How much does it cost?

Standard Individual - £1170

Standard Organisation - £1430

For full RedR UK terms and conditions, click here

Are there ID or minimum age requirements to enter the event?

The minimum age for this event is 18.

What's the refund policy?

For bookings cancelled two or more weeks before a course, administrative charges will apply. Applicants will be entitled to a refund of 85% of the course fees paid, or if places are available will be offered a transfer of 90% of the course fees paid onto the next instance of the course.

For bookings cancelled one to ten working days* before a course begins, 25% of the course fee will be refunded (*during normal UK working days, Monday-Friday and working hours 9am-5pm).

For bookings cancelled less than 24 hours (working days only) before a course, or after a course has started, no refund will provided.

If the applicant chooses to transfer to another course and then cancels their booking a second time, neither a further transfer nor a refund will be offered.

The refund must be claimed within two months from the cancelled course start date.

Please note that unfortunately we are only able to cover our local bank charges and not the recipient’s bank charges when we make refunds.

Refunds may take up to 30 days.

RedR UK is committed to making sure everyone’s needs are met, including people of different genders, ages and disabilities. If you have any specific access requirements or learning needs RedR are committed to try and make reasonable adjustments to support your needs, please email training@redr.org.uk at any stage of the booking process to talk directly to RedR about your needs.