Injection well

An injection well is a device that places fluid deep underground into porous rock formations, such as sandstone or limestone, or into or below the shallow soil layer. The fluid may be water, wastewater, brine (salt water), or water mixed with chemicals.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines an injection well as "a bored, drilled, or driven shaft, or a dug hole that is deeper than it is wide, or an improved sinkhole, or a subsurface fluid distribution system". Well construction depends on the injection fluid injected and depth of the injection zone. Deep wells that are designed to inject hazardous wastes or carbon dioxide deep below the Earth's surface have multiple layers of protective casing and cement, whereas shallow wells injecting non-hazardous fluids into or above drinking water sources are more simply constructed.

Injection wells are used for many purposes.

In waste water disposal, treated waste water is injected into the ground between impermeable layers of rocks to avoid polluting fresh water supplies or adversely affecting quality of receiving waters. Injection wells are usually constructed of solid walled pipe to a deep elevation in order to prevent injectate from mixing with the surrounding environment. Unlike outfalls or other direct disposal techniques, injection wells utilize the earth as a filter to further clean the treated wastewater before it reaches the receiving water. This method of waste water disposal also serves to spread the injectate over a wide area, further decreasing environmental impacts.

Critics of waste water injection wells cite concerns relating to the injectate polluting receiving waters. Most environmental engineering professionals, however, consider waste water treatment followed by disposal through injection wells to be the most cost effective and environmentally responsible method of waste water treatment. The only known alternatives to injection wells are direct discharge of treated waste water to receiving waters or utilization of the treated water for irrigation. Direct discharge does not disperse the water over a wide area; the environmental impact is focused on a particular segment of a river and its downstream reaches or on a coastal waterbody. Extensive irrigation is often prohibitively expensive and requires ongoing maintenance and large electricity usage.

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