PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Greetings to all B.C. Ground Water Association members! The first thing I want to say to all the members is Thank you for having the confidence in me to elect me as your new president. As I had mentioned at CanWell, I will be filling some pretty big shoes left by our past president, Bruce Ingimundson. Bruce worked tirelessly for our members and association over the past two years. Being a year we hosted CanWell made the efforts that much more daunting. Most of you have no idea of the amount of work Bruce has put into the association and its causes. To that end I would like to thank Bruce for all that he has done. I would be completely remised in my duties if I did not mention the outstanding job that Joan Perry did, not only for the day to day functions of the association but CanWell 2004. Words can not adequately express my thanks and congratulations to Joan. She almost single handedly put the entire show together! We owe her a great debt of gratitude for all of her efforts. I should also give special mention and thanks to Gilles Wendling for arranging all the technical sessions. They were very well received and I heard many positive comments about the presentations. The French delegation was very interesting and added a global dimension to the show and perhaps a glimpse of the future for us in Canada. All of the presentations are available on our website for your reading. Thank you, Gilles. In case you missed it, we had a terrific time at the golf tournament hosted by Remi Allard at the Harvest Golf and Country Club. Remi arranged a fun tournament and wonderful dinner that everyone thoroughly enjoyed, including yours truly. Remi was instrumental in helping organize CanWell 2004. Thanks to the efforts of a small group of people, CanWell 2004 was a resounding success! My thanks also goes out to the other members of the organizing committee, Jim Fyfe and Jim Clark, who helped keep things organized and moving in the right direction. Their many hours of effort made CanWell 2004 a very organized event that stayed within budget while providing a quality show. On other matters, I am pleased to report that the new regulations for well sealing, floodproofing and contractor certification are being looked at very favourably by the government. Minister Bill Barisoff had indicated at CanWell that these new regulations will receive his support and will bring British Columbia into a new era of ground water management. Stay tuned for more information. I have asked that all area directors have at least one annual meeting with the contractors in their area, to stay abreast of developments and issues, then report back to me. Everyone is very busy now but don’t forget your association. My door is always open and I would encourage anyone to contact me at 1-800-900-2220 for any constructive ideas or issues that will help the association. There are major changes afoot and we need to be positioned as a solid, well organized association that is the recognized leader in ground water issues into this century. Have a safe and prosperous year! Best Regards, Dave Mellis Note: Dave was also one of the hard working CanWell 2004 committee members who put in countless hours to achieve our goal of putting together an interesting, informative and successful show. Thank you, Dave. ······ Membership Dues Membership dues are now due! If you haven’t already renewed your dues for the 2004 year, please get a cheque into the office ASAP. If your dues are not renewed, your name will not be included in the membership booklet or posted on our web site. The new membership booklet will be mailed out the first week of July. ······ Here is your new executive for the coming year: Executive: President–Dave Mellis Vice President–David Slade Secretary–Bruce Grey Treasurer–Walt Perry Directors: Cariboo–Peter Epp Kootenays–Darrin Parnell, Dennis Thompson Okanagan–Remi Allard Fraser Valley-Jim Clark Vancouver Island–Calvin Slade Manufacturers/Suppliers–John Fahr Professional/Technical-Gilles Wendling CGWA Rep-Jim Fyfe Past President-Bruce Ingimundson ······ Business For Sale 24 year old established well drilling business in the Fraser Valley of B.C. Consisting of 1 air rotary drill rig and 1 cable tool with all support equipment. Work all year round. Ph: 604-534-1347. ······ MWLAP Information Series The following page is the sixth information pamphlet that has been sent to us from the MWLAP. The other topics deal with Arsenic, Flouride, Hardness, Iron & Manganese, Nitrate, and Total and Faecal Coliform. All of these pages are available at the BCGWA office. ······ Ryan’s Foundation We were all deeply moved by Ryan Hreljac’s talk and video presentation at the Convention. I noticed many tears in the audience from people who were touched by his story. It’s wonderful to see what a young person can accomplish when they put their mind to it. When Ryan was in Grade 1, he watched a video that showed the kind of water people in Africa were drinking. Drinking this water caused sickness and even death and he wanted to do something about it, so he started raising money to buy a well in Africa. This young man is now 12 years old and has raised over $800,000 for his Foundation. Challenge: I would like to pledge from Drillwell, $50.00 to Ryan’s Well Foundation through the BCGWA and challenge all members to do the same or better. I would also like to have the BCGWA challenge all other Provincial associations to try and match or beat our total! David Slade Drillwell Enterprises Inc. ······ As always…keep grinning…it makes people wonder what you are up to… ······ Africa and the Quest for Clean Drinking Water Imagine if twelve jumbo jets crashed a day! That would be 5,000 lives extinguished daily and over 150,000 lives a month. Could you imagine if the majority of those who died were children! The world would be in hysterics! More than likely, world leaders would rush to cooperate to figure out a solution to the crashes. Legislation would be passed immediately without regard to international relations but to save lives. However what if you knew that an equal number of casualties do occur every day but not as a result of plane crashes, but as a result of unclean drinking water. Tragically, 5,000 children die a day as a result of water-born diseases in developing areas of the world such as Africa. When was the last time you thought about flushing the toilet after you relieve yourself? More than likely the thought does not cross your mind. What if you knew that three billion people do not have access to modern sanitation and have to think about where their waste will go? When was the time you associated a bottle of Evian with war? Experts think that the next major world war will be caused by shortages of clean drinking water more than likely on the continent of Africa. Access to clean drinking water is not available to millions of people. It is the cause of diseases and many deaths. The next time you feel thirsty and grab for a glass of water, hopefully you will realize how lucky you are to have clean drinking water. The point is not to feel guilty, but to be aware that all people do not have access to this resource. Let’s all accept the Drillwell challenge and meet or beat their $50.00 donation to raise money for Ryan’s Foundation. Please make cheques payable to the B.C. Ground Water Association and all donations will be forwarded. ······ Thank you M&S for your support! Thank you M&S for supporting our CanWell 2004 convention! You made the show interesting and informative for the delegates that attended. We hope it was just as successful for you and that you were able to make new contacts. Rigs: § Foremost Industries Ltd. § GEFCO § Marwyn Sales & Supply § SEMCO, Inc. Booths: § ABCO International Inc. § Aggressive Pump & Supply Inc. § American Manufacturing § Andrew Sheret Limited § Angus Flexible Pipelines § Aquatic Life Ltd. § Atlas Manufacturing Ltd. § BCWWA § Baroid I.D.P. Canada § Boart Longyear Inc. § Boshart Industries Inc. § C.G.W.A. § Canamara SDS § CanTest Ltd. § Centerline Manufacturing Company § CETCO § Cubex Ltd. § Cycle Stop Valves § DSI-Thiessen Mining Division § DuAlaska Co, Inc. § Enviro Direct Corp. § Enzeetech Inc. § Farwest Special Products § Franklin Electric § Golder Associates Ltd. § G.P. Fiberglass Ltd. § Ground Water Canada Magazine § Grundfos Canada Inc. § Gus Pech Mfg. Co. Inc. § Hamaman Inc. § Hoskin Scientific Ltd. § Industrial Test Systems, Inc. § Inukton Services Ltd. § In-Well Technologies § Johnson Screens § Kaizen Environmntal § Karlington Electric, Inc. § King Oil Tools § Lackner McLennan Insurance § Lakos Separators/Laval Undergrond Surveys § Langley Welding & Machine Shop Ltd. § Maas Midwest Mfg. Inc. § Merrill Mfg. Company § Morrow Environmental Consultants Inc. § NGWA § Norwesco, Inc. § NUMA § Osprey Scientific § Pembina Controls Inc. § Petro Canada § R-Can Environmental Inc. § Rice Engineering and Operating Ltd. § Rockmore International § RST Instruments Ltd. § Sego Industries § Spears Sales & Service Ltd. § Sphere Drilling Supplies § Stratex Overburden Drill Systems § Target Products Ltd. § Team Manufacturing Ltd. § Terasen Waterworks § Tundra Sales § Van Isle Water Service Ltd. § Variperm Canada Ltd. § Westcoast Drilling Supplies Ltd. § Western Rubber and Mfg. § Worldwide Drilling Resource ······ Web-Site Don’t forget to check out our B.C. Ground Water Association web-site. You can keep up-to-date with what is happening with your association. You can now apply to place a banner ad on the site. This is an ad that comes across the screen when you first turn the computer on to the www.bcgwa.org web site. These ads are being charged at $300.00 per year. Check out the web and see if you would like to advertise this way. Last month we had over 2500 visitors to the site. ······ Purchase of CanWell bags At the CanWell Convention, soft brief case style bags were given out with a full convention registration. These bags were very popular at the convention and everyone was very excited to receive one. Since then, we have received a number of requests from companies wanting to know if they could get more. We have some bags available for purchase. The price is $25.00 per bag. (Includes tax and delivery.) Contact the office and we’ll get one off to you. ······ “Time is nature’s way of keeping everything from happening all at once.” ······ Injection Wells At the Annual General Meeting a motion was unanimously passed as follows. “ That in the absence of legislation, (members should) discourage the practice of storm and waste water injection wells, while encouraging the use of wetlands and perk fields for surplus water disposal and groundwater recharge.” The above resolution is meant to cause all members to question the practice of disposing of unwanted water by running it untreated into groundwater aquifers. This method of water disposal poses serious threat of contamination to aquifers which normally would have some degree of natural protection. In bypassing the layers rich in soil bacteria, oxygen, and fine grained filtering sediments, it is only a mater of time until valuable groundwater resources are contaminated beyond use by commercial, industrial, and agricultural runoff which is being channeled directly into aquifers. Please take a stand and let your concerns be known if you come across a project that may threaten the resource upon which we all depend. Sincerely David Slade Drillwell Enterprises ······ CanWell 2004 From rigs to screens, this show had something for everyone. The Canadian Ground Water Association asked B.C. to host a first-class-show and from the thank you letters that we have received from them, we feel we did not let them down. The pre-show events started with a very well planned golf tournament. There were lots of prizes and many stayed for the dinner that followed. A wine tour and a boat tour was another interesting and fun way to spend the day. Everybody mingled at the Welcome reception in the evening and we all got to meet new people and visit with old acquaintances. Trade Show: All of the latest equipment, tools and supplies were on display in the Trade Show area at Prospera Place. 4 rigs and 71 booths made for a very busy 2 days. The delegates were kept very busy trying to make sure they had enough time to visit all of the booths. Product seminars were held in the main Trade Show area while “B” sessions were held in another room. Drilling techniques, Safety, WCB regulations and running a business were topics of some of the seminars that took place. The first part of the evening started with a wine and cheese tasting, complimentary from the French Consulate in Vancouver, a wonderful dinner followed and then we were entertained by the hilarious comedian, Michael Harrison. The “A” session speakers hailed from France, Germany, the United States and Canada. Water Management in France, aquifer sustainability, aquifer mapping, Water legislations in B.C., well rehabilitation, climate change, the B.C. web-site and breathing wells were some of the topics that were discussed at these meetings. The partner’s (women’s) program was impressed by speaker Cameron Johnston who discussed stress management. There were casino lessons, a mini spa treatment and a discussion on skin care. Frances McGuckin spoke on “Are You Organized or Out of Control?” A visit to the wine Museum and a walk about Kelowna’s cultural district, rounded out the program. Francis McGuckin was also one of our key-note speakers who spoke at our Friday luncheon on “Surviving and Succeeding in a changing World.” Other key-note speaker, David Suzuki is known for being very controversial. He confessed that he didn’t now a damn thing about ground water, (that was the audiences expertise) but works through science and education to protect the balance of nature and our quality of life now and for future generations. Ryan Hreljac was a 12 year old key-note speaker who amazed everyone with his passion for raising money for wells in Africa. The final night, everyone was ready to unwind at the banquet and dance and enjoyed the music of “Elvis Gold”. Many danced to those wonderful tunes from the 50’s and 60’s. The CGWA held their Director’s meeting in Kelowna before the start of CanWell and the Annual General Meeting followed. The 2002-2003 Report is included with this Newsletter. The B. C. Ground Water Association Annual general Meeting was held as well and the minutes from that meeting are included ······ Donations Thank you to all of the company’s for sponsoring the following events at CanWell 2004. Your support was very much appreciated and really contributed to the success of the show. David Suzuki – Berkeley Pumps Drillwell Enterprises Field Drilling Contractors Goulds Red Deer College Thorman Drilling Brief case bag – Fyfe’s Well Drilling Golder Associates Technical Presentations – Baroid of Canada Clark Drilling Services Ltd. Pacific Hydrology Thurber Engineering Entertainment – Marwyn Sales Ryan’s Foundation – Capital Water Supply Ltd. Clark Drilling Services Ltd. JBD Pumps Fran McGuckin – P.S.I. Coffee sponsorship – Aermotor Pumps Aqua Drilling Services Ltd. Clark Drilling Services Ltd. Independent Pump Lackner McLennan Insurance M. Schibli Drilling Mud Bay Drilling P.S.I. SRK Consulting Thorman Drilling Ward Watkins Insurance Continental Breakfast – Angus Flexible Pipelines Boart Longyear Lackner McLennan Insurance P.S.I. Sego Industries Ltd. Stanley Pump Supply WSH Labs Transportation – B.C. Aquifer Testing Franklin Electric G.R. Martin Contracting Welcome Reception – B.C. Aquifer Testing Canamara Clearwater Drilling Ltd. Jet Lube Lackner McLennan Insurance Langley Welding & Machine Maas Midwest Marwyn Sales Norwesco Nor-West Drilling Ltd. P.S.I. Perry’s Well Drilling Piteau Associates Van Isle Water Western Rubber Golf – Atlas Manufacturing Ltd. Big Country Pumps Can Test Ltd. Farwest Special Products Franklin Electric Grundfos Canada JBD Pumps NUMA P.S.I. Thiessen Equipment offered $10,000 for a “hole in one” on hole #4. There were no lucky golfers that day! Sponsorship donations were also made by the City of Kelowna who donated $100.00 and the Ministry of Water Land and Air Protection who donated $1,000.00 Thank you to the French Consulate who hosted the wine and cheese in the Trade Show area on Thursday night. It was wonderful to sample some fine French wines. Winner of Fyfe’s Drilling Tools, men’s draw was Wade Johnson of Aaron Drilling, Okotoks, Alberta and the winner of the ABCO International Inc., women’s draw was Joan Perry. Wade won a Fishing Game Board and Joan won a beautiful opal necklace. ······ Things You’d Love to Say Out Loud at a Board Meeting I see your point…but I still think you’re full of it I don’t know what your problem is…but I’ll bet it’s hard to pronounce How about never…is never good for you? I see you’ve set aside this special time to humiliate yourself in public. I’m really easy to get along with…once you learn to see it my way. I’ll try being nicer…if you’ll try being smarter. I’m out of my mind…but feel free to leave a message. I don’t work here…I’m just a consultant. It sounds something like English…but I can’t understand a dang word you’re saying. I like you…you remind me of myself when I was young and stupid. You are validating my inherent mistrust of strangers. I will always cherish the initial misconceptions I had about you. The fact that no one understands you…doesn’t mean you’re light years ahead of the rest of us. Any connection between your reality and mine…is purely coincidental. I started out with nothing…and I still have most if it left. Sarcasm…is just one of the many services we offer here. Clowns everywhere…and not a circus in sight. Oh, I get it…it’s like humor…but different. Chaos, panic, and disorder…well, my work here is done…I’m outta’ here. ······ Thank you CanWell Helpers! Thank you to the following people who helped at CanWell. There was a lot to do and you helped get us there. Verla Reed Fumi Walsh Patty Oster Calvin Slade Leesa Slade Kelly Slade Barbi Gibbons Pina Allard Shirley Schibli Narissa Schibli Audrey Thorman Valerie Rogers Jan Bombardier Shirley Clark Karen Brinson Lee Wolff Mary Chorm Elaine Sharpe ······ Live Demo Thank you, Foremost Industries for providing the CanWell attendees with a dual rotary drilling demonstration. In conjunction with J.R. Drilling of Cranbrook/Kamloops, contractors were able to watch as a 6 inch cased well was drilled. Contractors were very impressed with the capabilities of this rig and were glad they were given a chance to see this first-hand action. These dual rotary drills are known for their ability to drill and case in difficult unconsolidated overburden, including sand, gravel, boulders and glacial till. Membership Changes M&S Section: DSI – Mining Division has moved to 5492-275th Street Glouchester Ind. Park Langley, B.C. V4W 3X7 Please make note of the new ph: #’s Ph: 604-857-1500 Fax: 604-857-1580 Toll Free: 877-857-1300 (The Tim Horton’s coffee is always on.) Changes at Westcoast Drilling Supplies Ltd. On March 11, 2004, Al Clark sold the ownership of Westcoast Drilling Supplies Ltd. to Diversity Technologies Corporation (DiCorp). Al has retired from his position as president of Westcoast and Dirk Le Poole has been appointed president of Westcoast. Al will continue his relationship with Westcoast as a consultant. All current employees of Westcoast are staying with the company. You will notice no change in the high level of service you have come to expect. Operations from the Vancouver office and warehouse will continue and your contacts with the company will be the same as before. For your records: DiCorp 8750-53rd Avenue Edmonton, Alberta T6E 5G2 (780) 440-4923