TCEQ CLASS C WATER COMPREHENSIVE EXAM QUESTIONS
AND ANSWERS GRADED A++
✔✔Electrical Resistivity - ✔✔Geophysical testing that involves sending an electrical
current through the ground between two electrodes.
✔✔Test Holes - ✔✔When determining a water well site, these are used to verify and
add information from other sources.
✔✔What information do test holes provide? - ✔✔Formation strata, formation thickness,
formation porosity, depth to water, estimate to yield, water quality, sand grain size, and
screen size.
✔✔Drilling Log - ✔✔The most common log made from a test hole, consists of formation
samples brought up in the drilling mud by the rig.
✔✔Caliper Log - ✔✔A log made by a mechanical device having adjustable legs that
sense fluctuations in the borehole diameter.
✔✔Gamma Log - ✔✔A log that measures natural radiation coming from borehole
material, indicating arrangement of the formation strata and its permeability.
✔✔Acoustic Log - ✔✔A log that determines the porosity of different formations and can
verify how well casing has been cemented to the formation.
✔✔Temperature Log - ✔✔A log that can help locate aquifers that have a variety of
heating and cooling from water located in a shallow or small aquifer.
✔✔What is not allowed within 50 feet of a well? - ✔✔Tile or concrete sanitary sewer,
sewerage appurtenance, septic tank, storm sewer, livestock, or cemetery.
✔✔What is not allowed within 150 feet of a well? - ✔✔Septic tank drain fields, or areas
irrigated by on-site sewage facilities, an absorption bed, evapotranspiration bed,
improperly constructed water well, underground petroleum, chemical storage tank, or
liquid transmission pipeline.
✔✔What is not allowed within 300 feet of a well? - ✔✔Sewage wet well, sewage
pumping station, wastewater drainage ditches.
✔✔What is not allowed within 500 feet of a well? - ✔✔Sewage treatment plants, animal
feedlots, solid water disposal sites, or lands irrigated by sewage plant effluent.
✔✔What is not allowed with 1/4 miles of the well? - ✔✔Abandoned or inoperative wells
that are not plugged.
, ✔✔Who do public water systems need to notify prior to making any system changes or
additions that result in an increase or decrease to the system's productions, treatment,
storage, pressure maintenance, or distribution facilities? - ✔✔TCEQ
✔✔Does the TCEQ require a permit to construct a new well? - ✔✔No
✔✔Cable Tool Drilling Method - ✔✔Performed by lifting and dropping a heavy string of
drilling tools into the bore hole. The drill bit breaks or crushes material into fragments,
which is mixed with water to create a slurry, which must occasionally be removed.
✔✔Jet Drilling Method - ✔✔Performed by using a chisel-shaped bit that shoots water.
The water cleans the bit and loosens the material.
✔✔Driven Method - ✔✔Performed only in unconsolidated formations having little or no
rocky material.
✔✔Auger Boring Method - ✔✔Performed for relatively shallow wells.
✔✔Air Rotary Method - ✔✔Performed using a compressor forcing air down the drill
pipe.
✔✔Direct Rotary Drilling - ✔✔Most common method for drilling wells.
✔✔Well Casing - ✔✔Includes the other surface casing and the inner casing or blank
liner. Must be new carbon steel, high-strength low-alloy steel, stainless steel, or plastic
conforming to AWWA standards. Must extend upward at least 18 inches above the
elevation of the pump room.
✔✔Well Screen - ✔✔Prevents sand from entering the well.
✔✔Over-Pumping - ✔✔The simplest method of well development, pumping at a rate 15-
25% higher than normal service.
✔✔Backwashing - ✔✔Causes the well water to move in and out of the well by turning
the pump on and off.
✔✔Mechanical Surging - ✔✔Operating a plunger up and down in the casing like a
piston in a cylinder.
✔✔Air Surging - ✔✔Performed by injecting air into the well.
✔✔Jetting - ✔✔One of the most effective well development methods.
AND ANSWERS GRADED A++
✔✔Electrical Resistivity - ✔✔Geophysical testing that involves sending an electrical
current through the ground between two electrodes.
✔✔Test Holes - ✔✔When determining a water well site, these are used to verify and
add information from other sources.
✔✔What information do test holes provide? - ✔✔Formation strata, formation thickness,
formation porosity, depth to water, estimate to yield, water quality, sand grain size, and
screen size.
✔✔Drilling Log - ✔✔The most common log made from a test hole, consists of formation
samples brought up in the drilling mud by the rig.
✔✔Caliper Log - ✔✔A log made by a mechanical device having adjustable legs that
sense fluctuations in the borehole diameter.
✔✔Gamma Log - ✔✔A log that measures natural radiation coming from borehole
material, indicating arrangement of the formation strata and its permeability.
✔✔Acoustic Log - ✔✔A log that determines the porosity of different formations and can
verify how well casing has been cemented to the formation.
✔✔Temperature Log - ✔✔A log that can help locate aquifers that have a variety of
heating and cooling from water located in a shallow or small aquifer.
✔✔What is not allowed within 50 feet of a well? - ✔✔Tile or concrete sanitary sewer,
sewerage appurtenance, septic tank, storm sewer, livestock, or cemetery.
✔✔What is not allowed within 150 feet of a well? - ✔✔Septic tank drain fields, or areas
irrigated by on-site sewage facilities, an absorption bed, evapotranspiration bed,
improperly constructed water well, underground petroleum, chemical storage tank, or
liquid transmission pipeline.
✔✔What is not allowed within 300 feet of a well? - ✔✔Sewage wet well, sewage
pumping station, wastewater drainage ditches.
✔✔What is not allowed within 500 feet of a well? - ✔✔Sewage treatment plants, animal
feedlots, solid water disposal sites, or lands irrigated by sewage plant effluent.
✔✔What is not allowed with 1/4 miles of the well? - ✔✔Abandoned or inoperative wells
that are not plugged.
, ✔✔Who do public water systems need to notify prior to making any system changes or
additions that result in an increase or decrease to the system's productions, treatment,
storage, pressure maintenance, or distribution facilities? - ✔✔TCEQ
✔✔Does the TCEQ require a permit to construct a new well? - ✔✔No
✔✔Cable Tool Drilling Method - ✔✔Performed by lifting and dropping a heavy string of
drilling tools into the bore hole. The drill bit breaks or crushes material into fragments,
which is mixed with water to create a slurry, which must occasionally be removed.
✔✔Jet Drilling Method - ✔✔Performed by using a chisel-shaped bit that shoots water.
The water cleans the bit and loosens the material.
✔✔Driven Method - ✔✔Performed only in unconsolidated formations having little or no
rocky material.
✔✔Auger Boring Method - ✔✔Performed for relatively shallow wells.
✔✔Air Rotary Method - ✔✔Performed using a compressor forcing air down the drill
pipe.
✔✔Direct Rotary Drilling - ✔✔Most common method for drilling wells.
✔✔Well Casing - ✔✔Includes the other surface casing and the inner casing or blank
liner. Must be new carbon steel, high-strength low-alloy steel, stainless steel, or plastic
conforming to AWWA standards. Must extend upward at least 18 inches above the
elevation of the pump room.
✔✔Well Screen - ✔✔Prevents sand from entering the well.
✔✔Over-Pumping - ✔✔The simplest method of well development, pumping at a rate 15-
25% higher than normal service.
✔✔Backwashing - ✔✔Causes the well water to move in and out of the well by turning
the pump on and off.
✔✔Mechanical Surging - ✔✔Operating a plunger up and down in the casing like a
piston in a cylinder.
✔✔Air Surging - ✔✔Performed by injecting air into the well.
✔✔Jetting - ✔✔One of the most effective well development methods.
