The Geological Survey of the Netherlands has some 500 digitized reports of well and pumping tests which contain valuable information. For example, these historical reports have been used in the construction of the REGIS II hydrogeological model. Because there is regular demand for these reports, they are now made available via DINOloket.
A well and pumping test is often a costly study and is conducted in one or more pumping wells by extracting groundwater. During the test, measurements are made of how the groundwater level is lowered in the extraction well and in the surrounding area at a given flow rate. Based on these measurements and various (model) calculations, geohydrological characteristics of one or more subsurface strata can be derived, such as permeability, transmissivity, and hydraulic resistance. This information can be used for all kinds of hydrological purposes, such as licensing, groundwater abstraction, and lowering of the groundwater table during well pointing.
Valuable historical data
The well and pumping test reports available through DINOloket vary in completeness and quality. In older reports, everything was measured and calculated manually. Moreover, our knowledge of the subsurface hydrogeology was not as detailed as today. Nevertheless, these reports hold a wealth of information on subsurface permeabilities collected over the past century in the Netherlands. Using these original measurements in combination with current knowledge about the subsurface, the reports can make a valuable contribution to many types of hydrological research.
Reports available via the map
As there is regular demand for one or more reports, GDN-TNO has decided to make the digitized reports including possible appendices available via DINOloket. They can be found via the DINOloket map viewer for subsurface data. The map shows the locations where well and pumping tests have been carried out in the past. By clicking on a location, the report and/or its appendices can be downloaded free of charge.
Origin of the reports
Many of the historical well and pumping test reports now added to DINOloket have been acquired for the construction of REGIS II, the hydrogeological model developed and managed by the Geological Survey of the Netherlands. Historical well and pumping test data is used for the characterization of the permeability of the hydrogeological units in REGIS II, along with results from permeability measurements on undisturbed drill cores and literature data on permeabilities and porosities of sediments.
For this reason, the former ‘Dienst Grondwater Verkenning’ (DGV-TNO) started collecting well and pumping test reports in the 1990s. They have been digitized and enriched with metadata by the Geological Survey of the Netherlands in recent years and are still widely used today.
In cooperation with Dr Henk Kooij (Deltares) the Geological Survey of the Netherlands has investigated the usability of permeability determinations from historical well and pumping tests for REGIS II. The results of this research have been published in the paper Bruikbaarheid van doorlatendheidsbepalingen uit historische put- en pompproeven voor REGIS II (in Dutch) in the journal Stromingen (2022-1) of the Dutch Hydrological Society as well as in the report Bruikbaarheid van resultaten uit put- en pompproefrapporten voor REGIS II parametrisatie (in Dutch).
Correlation between REGIS II parameters of the present borehole at the Roosendaal pumping station site and the schematisation reported in the report (left), in Dutch
Do you also have well and pumping tests?
If your organisation has historical or current well and pumping test reports that you want to share with others via DINOloket, you can submit them to the Service Desk of the Geological Survey of the Netherlands. This way, they can be consulted via DINOloket and help improve our understanding of the composition of the Dutch subsurface and the subsurface models we make with this information.