1. n. [Drilling Fluids]
Water added to maintain or dilute a water-mud system. The added water may be fresh water, seawater or salt water, as appropriate for the mud. Make-up water volume is an important parameter in a material balance check on solids content and solids removal efficiency for a mud system. The amount of dilution strongly influences mud economics. If soft make-up water is needed, treatments to remove hardness ions should be done prior to adding the water to the mud to avoid clay flocculation and polymer precipitation.
Synonyms: dilution water
See related terms: calcium test, chloride test, clay-water interaction, hard water, hardness ion, material-balance equation, native-solids mud, peptized clay, seawater mud, total hardness test
