Dynamic Study of Common Well Screen Materials

Experiments simulating the dynamics of compliance sampling via a monitoring well were performed to assess the effects of common well screen materials (rigid polyvinyl chloride, polytetrafluoroethylene, stainless steel 304. and stainless steel 316) on several metals and tri‐ chloroethylene (TCE) in ground water. This was achieved by using a continuous flow‐through chamber system capable of exposing monitoring well screens to ground water for periods ranging from 0.25 to 8 hours. The findings of this study are more representative than static laboratory experiments for assessing the potential effects well casing materials have on ground water samples. Under dynamic flow conditions stainless steel 304 and 316 screens were found to influence solution concentrations of Pb, Cd, Cr, Ni, and Fe, while ground water TCE concentrations were not affected by any of the materials tested.