Fluid sampling is an essential resource for agricultural, municipal, industrial, stock and domestic use. Careful management of groundwater resources is essential to optimising the quality of social, environmental and economic life. Most groundwater is stored within porous strata, referred to as aquifers.

Qteq’s Portable Mobile Q-Tube AquiSample system eliminates the need for dedicated, permanently installed groundwater sampling pumps and associated headworks suspension systems. The portable system is instead deployed manually from a custom designed hand trolley, positioned close to the borehole. A separate telescopic tripod, with an integral tubing guide and mechanical depth counter, is placed over the borehole.

A large diameter reel of twin tubing for the gas drive and water sample lines is mounted on the hand trolley. A Q-Tube Lite BHA attached to the end of the twin tubing is spooled manually over the tripod tubing guide into the borehole. Once at the appropriate sampling depth, a locking mechanism built into the hand trolley is then engaged to prevent further rotation of the reel.

As no support wire is attached to the BHA when using the hand trolley deployment system sampling depth is limited to a maximum of 80 m.

A simple pneumatic actuator to function the BHA is also mounted on the hand-trolley. Short lengths of tubing connect the controller to stabs located on the side of the tubing reel, and to the drive gas supply (air compressor or nitrogen bottle). After purging the system, groundwater displaced to surface by the Q-Tube Lite BHA is captured in sample bottles placed in a dedicated tray at the rear of the hand-trolley.

Applications

• Low flow fluid sampling compliant with regulatory requirements

• Low disturbance fluid retrieval

• Through-tubing or steel/PVC boreholes with minimum 50 mm internal diameter

• Drive-by sampling events of borehole with no permanently installed pumps