PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE Well this is our last Newsletter before the big event! Your CanWell Committee (Joan, Dave, the two Jim's, Gilles, Remi and myself) have been working overtime to pull it all together. To date we have sold almost all the 80 booths, plus a number of large equipment areas, not to mention the big rig drilling demonstration on Saturday. However, the registration from our membership is slow in coming (including your President). If you are in a situation like myself, you barely have time to eat and sleep, let alone the family or relaxation. Here on the island we are in a boom that we have not seen for several years. Some clients are waiting weeks for a well to be drilled, let alone the consultants juggling their schedules to keep most clients happy. Anyway enough already about excuses. We need to get those delegate registrations in. This is so much more than our annual convention and AGM - this is the "BIG SHOW". We have delegates from across Canada, several from the USA and a delegation from France. So lets get with it and get registered. This is your association, working for you to better your industry. The CanWell Team as well as our Directors have spent a lot of time this year for your benefit. So show your support and appreciation by coming to CanWell and get registered. I will. See you all in April - check our web site for details. On other matters, the BCGWA has been invited to meet with the new Minister of Water Land and Air Protection, Bill Barisoff on March 25. The meeting is to discuss our association and present our strong support for passing the pending Phase 1 Regulations. Also that the government continue to work on the development of the next two phases. Jim Fyfe and myself will be attending. I will keep you posted. Included in this Newsletter is a ballot for the election of officers. Our new Constitution and Bylaws will be voted upon at the AGM at CanWell. Under the Constitution & Bylaws, we are to hold elections for officers each year. So consider whom you want to represent you and if you have someone in mind, approach that person and if they are agreeable, fill out the attached Ballot and send it or give it to Joan at CanWell. The offices are: Executive - President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer. Directors - Cariboo, Kootenays*, Okanagan*, Fraser Valley, Manufacturers/Suppliers, Professional/Technical, CGWA and Past President * Consideration will be given to combining these two areas. Bruce Ingimundson President, BCGWA CanWell 2004 Update! Well, we are almost there! Next month is the big Show! This has been our chance to invite the other provinces, the United States and France to British Columbia. Will you be there to receive our guests? We are the host Province. We are all hosts to the Manufacturer's & Suppliers, Drilling Contractors, Professional & Technical and other people interested in the well drilling industry. So let's put out the welcome mat and get ready to welcome other cities to Kelowna. This can't be done by just a few committee members, this has to be done by the B.C. delegates, both men & women. Register today! We need the support of everyone. Please book your rooms with the Hotels as quickly as possible. The room block at the Grand Okanagan will close on March 20th. If anyone still needs to book a room, they should do so prior to March 20th. Saturday, April 24th, 7:00 am - 12:00 pm Foremost Industries of Calgary is hosting an off-site Dual Rotary drilling demonstration, consisting of an 8" cased well in overburden. Interested parties must PRE-REGISTER with Foremost separately for this demonstration. For details, call Kathy Sullivan of Foremost at 1-800-661-9190 ext 841. Notice of Meetings The Members Motion form for new business was mailed out with your membership dues renewal invoice. If you have an issue you would like to have addressed at the Annual General Meeting, please fill out and send your motion form back. The AGM will be held at the Okanagan Grand Hotel on Saturday, April 24, 2004 from 3:30 to 5:00 pm following the CGWA meeting. The Canadian Ground Water meeting will be held at the Okanagan Grand from 1:30 to 3:00 pm on Saturday, April 24, 2004. All members are invited to attend both of these meetings If you wish to write the Drillers Exam Any one wishing to challenge the CGWA certification examination please call the BCGWA Office (604)530-8934 and the application forms will be mailed to you. The exam will be written at the Okanagan Grand Hotel on Thursday April 22nd, from 2:00 - 5:00 pm. Coming Events A.W.W.D.A. Convention & Trade Show Mayfield Inn Edmonton, Alberta March 25-27, 2004 Contact: Carol Larson Ph: 780-386-2335 Ontario Ground Water Association Convention Lindsay, Ontario Mar 26 - 27, 2004 Ph: 519-847-5717 CanWell 2004 Kelowna, B.C. April 21-24, 2004 Ph: 604-530-8934 Groundwater in the West Natural Resources Law Center Boulder, Colorado June 16-18, 2004 Ph: 303-492-1286 E:mail NRLC@colorado.edu Web-Site Ads Our B.C. Ground Water Association web-site just keeps getting better! 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. Water boy provides precious service for households in Kabul Every day, seven-year-old Habib Ullah runs 40-litre jugs of water up a hill in a wheelbarrow. The water weighs as much as he does and the wheelbarrow is twice his size. The good- humoured boy is the local water supply for his family and neighbours, pushing the water back from the community pipe that supplies about 250 households. "It has to be done and I'm big enough," says Ullah as he proudly pushes the wheelbarrow up the hill in Kabul's Nawabad district. At the pipe where Ullah fills his jug, Odam Ali, 90, waits for the trickle to fill a pair of 15-litre jugs, the supply for the day for he and his wife. From this, they will drink, cook and clean. The average Kabul resident consumes a little more, about 20 to 30 litres per day, depending on the proximity to a water supply. About half of the city's water comes from three muddy rivers that barely run by the end of summer. The other half comes from wells, like the supply in Nawabad. To understand how precious water is in Afghanistan, consider this: the average toilet in Winnipeg or Toronto leaks about the same amount of water in a day as the low end of the estimated consumption in Kabul. The average person in Toronto uses 248 litres per day. When industrial uses are added in, the average consumption in Winnipeg is closer to 450 litres per day. Kabul uses about the same amount of water as Saskatoon and Regina combined. Estimates of Kabul's population range as high as 3.5 million - and it's growing rapidly. Taken together, the two biggest Saskatchewan cities have about 400,000 residents. Afghanistan's minister of irrigation and environment says ensuring a stable and secure water supply is one of the biggest obstacles to economic development in Afghanistan. "We are just around the corner from disaster," says Yusus Nuristani. "Our system was designed for 300,000 residents, and that was before the wars. We have no ability to store water, to recharge our reserves." While the dusty area around Kabul has suffered through a long-term drought, the country is rich in water resources, with mountain glaciers and runoff to the north. The problem is moving the water to more arid, populated areas, like Kabul. But Nuristani says he is confident new projects will come about if the peace and security brought by international troops can be maintained. We need dams, we need to fix some, we need to build some," Nuristani says. "We have plans. Hopefully, we can execute them. It will take time." While the supply is shaky, the quality is even more uncertain. The three rivers that supply Kabul stink of sewage. Six out of 100 children born in Afghanistan die of diarrhea by age five, according to UNICEF. Aout 65 per cent of city residents do not have access to safe water. Nearly 80 per cent lack proper sewage facilities. Canadian Press Something to Ponder The most destructive habit...worry The greatest joy.giving The greatest loss.....Self respect The most satisfying work.helping others The ugliest personality trait....selfishness The most endangered species...dedicated leaders Our greatest natural resource...our youth The greatest "shot in the arm".encouragement The greatest problem to overcome.fear The most effective sleeping pill...peace of mind The most crippling failure disease.excuses The most powerful force in life...love The most dangerous pariah..a gossiper The world's most incredible computer.... the brain The worst thing to be without....hope The deadliest weapon.....the tongue The two most power-filled words."I Can" The Greatest asset.......Faith The most worthless emotion....self pity The most beautiful attire.......SMILE! The most prized possession..Integrity The most powerful channel of communication.........prayer The most contagious spirit..enthusiasm Everyone needs this list to live by! Membership Changes Drilling Contractors: Aqua Installations Ltd. has changed their name to Aqua Drilling Services Ltd. Address and telephone numbers remain the same. M&S Section: Please change the e.mail address for North American Pipe & Steel Ltd. To mintonf@napsteel.com Address change: Sego Industries Ltd has moved to: 3905-14 Ave N Lethbridge, AB T1H 6P6 To set the record straight from DSI-Thiessen Mining Division: Nov.3, 2003 Thiessen Equipment Ltd. sold the drilling fluids division (Baroid Products) and ground support business to DYWIDAG Systems International. This includes all the mixing equipment and systems for drilling fluids. The new company will be known as: DSI-Thiessen Mining Division. We will continue to operate from the facility at 20131 Logan Ave, Langley, B.C. for an undetermined amount of time. DSI-Thiessen Mining Division is a separate company from the Thiessen Group. The new contact numbers are as follows: Ph: 604-533-9188/Fax:604-533-3639 For all your drilling fluid products and needs please contact us at the above numbers. Jim Cullinane Sr. Tech Sales e.mail: jim.cullinane@dsiamerica.com Professional & Technical Division Address Change: Lowen Hydrogeology 4030 Zinnia Road Victoria, B.C. V8Z 4W3 Groundwater, Rivers and Lakes are Connected We all know that groundwater occurs underground. We all know surface water, (ponds, lakes, rivers, and wetlands) occurs at the surface. Surface water you can see, groundwater you can't see. What many people don't realize is much surface water was once groundwater. In some instances, what you see today as surface water may end up tomorrow as groundwater. All water is part of the hydrologic system. Energy from the sun causes evaporation of water from the land, lakes, and oceans, which eventually falls as rain or snow. Once it reaches land, some water may move below ground, but eventually, virtually all of it will end up back at the surface. Water may move beneath the surface at different depths and travel at different speeds. Once water infiltrates below a depth where evaporation or plant roots can't reach, it may remain as groundwater for months, years, decades or even longer. Have you ever wondered how rivers continue to flow even it is hasn't rained for weeks? The answer is groundwater, stored in rock formations, continues to supply water through banks and beds of rivers and streams. Once in the river, groundwater becomes surface water! In some cases, particularly in dry areas, rivers may lose water that soaks through the riverbed to reach groundwater. In these cases, surface water becomes groundwater! In recent years we have become increasingly aware of the ecological importance of wetlands. Nearly all America's freshwater wetlands are maintained because of inflow from groundwater. The close hydrologic connection between wetlands and groundwater is good for reason for wetland biologists to understand groundwater and for groundwater specialists to appreciate ecological significance. Protecting aquifers makes good economical and ecological sense. A great way to help people understand how the hydrological system works is to think about how one water drop may have moved through the hydrological system. For example, from cloud to rain drop, then infiltration through the soil to groundwater, then slow travel through rock formations into a valley bottom wetland into a river and back to the ocean. The drop may have traveled a few miles, or hundreds of miles. During its travel it could have been intercepted by a water well and swirled up through the impellers of an irrigation pump and moved from groundwater to the surface in a few seconds. The many ways water can move through the hydrologic system provide great opportunities for teaching. Your imagination is the only limitation to the way you tell the story of the water; and in the process, help people understand the importance of protecting resources, and managing water use to be sustainable. National Driller FOR RENT: Drill pipe and Drill Collar straightener. Will straighten up to 8-1/2" solid steel.Portable. Call Bob 1-877-647-7447. Petro-Canada Have you applied for your special Petro-Can card yet? Under the agreement between Petro-Canada and the CGWA, Petro-Can has agreed to reduce retail gas and diesel prices to our Association members by 2.5 cents per litre. These savings will be passed on to the CGWA and our own Provincial Association. This is an opportunity to help fund your Associations. The Canadian groundwater industry uses approximately 50 million litres of fuel on an annual basis! Job Posting Junior to intermediate level Hyrogeologist in Whitehorse, Yukon For more information contact: EBA Engineering Consultants Ltd. 6-151 Industrial Rd, Whitehorse, YT Y1A 2V3 Attention: Mr. Richard Trimble or direct any questions to Ryan Martin 867-668-2071 ext. 31 or e.mail: rmartin@eba.ca How to tell the sex of a fly! A woman walked into the kitchen to find her husband stalking around with a fly swatter. "What are you doing?" she asked. "Hunting Flies" he responded. "Oh, Killing any?" she asked. "Yep, 3 males, 2 females." He replied. Intrigued, she asked, "How can you tell?" He responded, "3 were on a beer can, 2 were on the phone." MWLAP Information Series The following page is the fifth information pamphlet which has been sent to us from the MWLAP. The other topics deal with Arsenic, Flouride, Hardness, Iron & Manganese, Sodium, and Total and Faecal Coliform. All of these pages are available at the BCGWA office Automatic Snow Pillows (ASP) Following the fairly heavy snowfalls of last winter, the average of longer term index ASP snow water equivalent readings from throughout BC rose to 88% of average, up from around 50% of average at the beginning of winter. Particularly encouraging is that the two Okanagan Snow Pillows (Mission Creek and Brenda Mines) were both showing above normal snow, at 125% and 135% of normal. Another ASP station is located at an elevation of 1180 metres above the village of Spuzzum about 40 km north of Hope in the Fraser Canyon. What is an Automatic Snow Pillow (ASP) Station? Our snow pillows consist of 3 m diameter bladders containing antifreeze solution. As snow accumulates on the pillow, the weight of the snow pushes an equal weight of the antifreeze solution from the pillow up a standpipe in the instrument house. This weight of the water content of the snow is termed Snow Water Equivalent (SWE). The distance the antifreeze is pushed up the standpipe is recorded by a float connected to a shaft encoder. As well as the vertical standpipe from the pillow, the instrument shelter contains the electronics, consisting of a Data Collection Platform (DCP), a shaft encoder which tracks the movement of the float in the standpipe from the pillow, 12 volt wet cell batteries for powering the electronic equipment, and regulators for the externally mounted solar panels for recharging the batteries. The DCP contains a transmitter to send the recorded data by satellite to us. On the outside of the instrument shelter are the solar panels for the charging system, and an air temperature sensor. At some of the snow pillow sites, precipitation gauges and snow depth sensors are also installed. The precipitation gauges consist of a 380 mm diameter PVC standpipe varying from 1.2 to 1.8 m in length, depending on the amount of precipitation expected in the area. A pressure transducer is mounted externally to the bottom of the standpipe, its output giving a reading of the total amount of fluid in the raingauge. To inhibit freezing as the antifreeze becomes diluted with increasing precipitation, a 12-volt pump is used to circulate the fluid inside the precipitation gauge. The gauges are mounted on top of a 3 m high tower to keep them above the snow pack. The snow depth sensor is mounted on an arm extending from a 6 m high tower, and points toward the ground above the pillow. The sensor works similarly to an autofocus sensor in a camera in that it measures the distance from the sensor to the surface below it and, as the snow depth increases the distance measured decreases. All of the B.C. Provincial ASPs are installed and maintained by staff of the River Forecast Centre. Our data base and graphs also include ASPs operated by B.C. Hydro and Alcan. MWLAP - I've learned that I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy it. - I've learned that you cannot make someone love you. All you can do is stalk them and hope they panic and give in. Association Membership Means: - Benefits - Services - Input into Industry Legislation Join today. Enjoy the benefits. - Ideas - Know-How - Networking - CGWA Membership - Industry Recommendations - Workshops and Seminars - Unity - Friendship SGWA Newsletter, December 2003 Constitution Bruce Ingimundson has been working with the changes to get this constitution passed. This version has been approved by our lawyer and is now being mailed to you for review. We will be voting on this constitution at our AGM, in April and hopefully it will be approved at that time. The first two sections of the Constitution have already been mailed. This is the third and final section. If you have any questions or want to make any changes, please contact the office. If you would like to review the whole constitution, give the office a call. See you at CanWell 2004!