{"id":145,"date":"2026-04-10T02:53:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T02:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/age-dating-young-groundwater\/chapter\/ch064-xhtml\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T19:52:50","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T19:52:50","slug":"box-2-procedure-for-sampling-wells","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/age-dating-young-groundwater\/chapter\/box-2-procedure-for-sampling-wells\/","title":{"raw":"Box\u00a02 Procedure for Sampling Wells","rendered":"Box\u00a02 Procedure for Sampling Wells"},"content":{"raw":"
\r\n
\r\n\r\nSo\u2011called copper tube samples<\/em> are easy to transport or ship to the lab given that\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
    \r\n \t
  1. the ends of the copper tube are not damaged or bent so far as to break, and<\/li>\r\n \t
  2. the samples do not freeze, which can expand and break the copper tube.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n
    \r\n\r\nAn example copper tube configuration consists of 0.95\u00a0cm diameter copper tubing of about 50\u00a0cm in length. A copper tube of this size will contain about 18 to 20\u00a0mL of water sample (Solomon et al., 1992, Solomon et al., 1993). Figure\u00a0Box\u00a02\u20111 shows key aspects of copper\u2011tube sampling, including\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
      \r\n \t
    1. inspection of groundwater flowing through the outlet tubing to be sure bubbles\u2014from degassing and\/or air leakage in pump tubing\u2014are not present prior to sampling, and<\/li>\r\n \t
    2. tilting the copper tube upward to allow bubbles to escape the copper tube prior to sealing.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n
      \r\n\r\n\"\"\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
      \r\n
      Figure Box\u00a02\u20111<\/strong>\u00a0\u2011<\/strong>\u00a0Key procedures for sampling groundwater from wells, using the copper tube (Cu tube) method (modified from Gilmore et al., 2021 and used with permission).<\/blockquote>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
      \r\n\r\nBefore collecting water samples, wells should be purged according to standard procedures, withdrawing, and disposing of, a volume of well water at least three times the bore volume, and\/or when field parameters\u2014e.g., conductivity, pH, temperature\u2014stabilize. When sampling a well using a submersible pump, it is ideal to purge the well by placing the pump near the top of the water column in the well. Purging with the pump near the top of the water column helps to remove well water that may be partially equilibrated with the air in the well casing. The pump inlet can then be lowered toward the well screen before collecting the sample.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
      \r\n\r\nWhen the tubing is filled with a groundwater sample, each end of the tube is sealed with a refrigeration clamp (Figure\u00a0Box\u00a02\u20111a) that is machined to very precise specifications to provide a completely airtight seal but not pinch off the copper tubing to the point that it breaks. Figure\u00a0Box 2\u20111b shows an example metal channel used to position and hold clamps while they are tightened.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
      \r\n\r\nReturn to where text linked to Box\u00a02<\/u><\/span><\/a>\u2ba5\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"
      \n
      \n

      So\u2011called copper tube samples<\/em> are easy to transport or ship to the lab given that<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

        \n
      1. the ends of the copper tube are not damaged or bent so far as to break, and<\/li>\n
      2. the samples do not freeze, which can expand and break the copper tube.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
        \n

        An example copper tube configuration consists of 0.95\u00a0cm diameter copper tubing of about 50\u00a0cm in length. A copper tube of this size will contain about 18 to 20\u00a0mL of water sample (Solomon et al., 1992, Solomon et al., 1993). Figure\u00a0Box\u00a02\u20111 shows key aspects of copper\u2011tube sampling, including<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

          \n
        1. inspection of groundwater flowing through the outlet tubing to be sure bubbles\u2014from degassing and\/or air leakage in pump tubing\u2014are not present prior to sampling, and<\/li>\n
        2. tilting the copper tube upward to allow bubbles to escape the copper tube prior to sealing.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
          \n

          \"\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

          \n

          Figure Box\u00a02\u20111<\/strong>\u00a0\u2011<\/strong>\u00a0Key procedures for sampling groundwater from wells, using the copper tube (Cu tube) method (modified from Gilmore et al., 2021 and used with permission).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

          \n

          Before collecting water samples, wells should be purged according to standard procedures, withdrawing, and disposing of, a volume of well water at least three times the bore volume, and\/or when field parameters\u2014e.g., conductivity, pH, temperature\u2014stabilize. When sampling a well using a submersible pump, it is ideal to purge the well by placing the pump near the top of the water column in the well. Purging with the pump near the top of the water column helps to remove well water that may be partially equilibrated with the air in the well casing. The pump inlet can then be lowered toward the well screen before collecting the sample.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

          \n

          When the tubing is filled with a groundwater sample, each end of the tube is sealed with a refrigeration clamp (Figure\u00a0Box\u00a02\u20111a) that is machined to very precise specifications to provide a completely airtight seal but not pinch off the copper tubing to the point that it breaks. Figure\u00a0Box 2\u20111b shows an example metal channel used to position and hold clamps while they are tightened.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

          \n

          Return to where text linked to Box\u00a02<\/u><\/span><\/a>\u2ba5<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"menu_order":44,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-145","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":43,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/age-dating-young-groundwater\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/age-dating-young-groundwater\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/age-dating-young-groundwater\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/age-dating-young-groundwater\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/age-dating-young-groundwater\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":471,"href":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/age-dating-young-groundwater\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/145\/revisions\/471"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/age-dating-young-groundwater\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/43"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/age-dating-young-groundwater\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/145\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/age-dating-young-groundwater\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/age-dating-young-groundwater\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=145"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/age-dating-young-groundwater\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=145"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/age-dating-young-groundwater\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}