This Newsletter is published quarterly, March, June, September and December by the B. C. Ground Water Association. For more information please contact: Secretary Treasurer, Joan Perry, 1708 - 197 A Street, Langley, B. C. V2Z 1K2 Phone or Fax: 604-530-8934

Archived Newsletters:

Click here for the BC Government Document: NEW STANDARDS TAKE EFFECT FOR PRIVATE WELL OWNERS

Click here to download the PDF file BCGWA Okanagan Region Regulations Forum Penticton Lakeside Resort - 7 Dec 2005

Click here to download the PDF file of an important update on Ground Water Protection Regulation (GWPR) from the BC Ministry of Environment.

June 2007 Newsletter

President’s Address

Summer greetings to all.

It was great to see so many familiar faces, and so many new members at our conference and trade show in Langley this past March.  We had near record attendance, a sold out trade show, a full drillers workshop, and a nice shiny drill rig in the parking lot.  The confined space and the pump installers’ workshops were well attended and well received, and the speakers were all good.  The food was great, and the entertainment was fun and hilarious.  If you couldn’t make it this year you missed a very worthwhile event.  Joan Perry and Gilles Wendling did an incredible job, and have already started preparations for next year.  Mark it on your calendar for the first week of  March 2008.

We had elections at the AGM with Remi Allard elected as your new Vice President.  Scott Schillereff has moved into Professional Technical Director, and Doug Geller is the new director for the Okanagan.  All other positions remain the same.  There are only 9 months left till the next elections, so if you are going to impeach the president you had best get at it.  Please see the complete list of directors and contact information elsewhere in this newsletter, and don’t hesitate to contact them or myself if you have any issues, concerns or complaints that you wish to bring to the association.  There is a director for each of the Regions, as well as a director for Well Drilling Contractors, Pump Installers, Professional and Technical, Manufacturer and Suppliers, and Environmental and Geotechnical Contractors.

There was discussion at the AGM about consolidating the Okanagan and the Kootenay Regions into one region.  This was not endorsed by the membership, however there was some slight re-drawing of boundaries, and final (we hope) regional map is included in this issue.  Thanks again to Remi Allard and his staff for their work on this.

We are planning at least one more regional workshop for the Well Drillers.  This is subject to getting a prior commitment from enough people to make the function worthwhile.  Vancouver Island is the likely target, since Managing Director Gilles, and the Ministry of Environment staff reside there.  If we cannot put it together, we will host a large one again at the next conference.

Some other things that we are planning for the next conference is a repeat of the Pump Installers training, and the confined space training, with the addition of a fall arrest training course, a crane and rigging course (both now required by WCB), and a short course for drillers to help them prepare to challenge the Canadian Groundwater exam as a prerequisite to registration with the Province as a Water Well Driller.  If you have any suggestions or ideas for the next conference, we are looking for input in areas of topics, speakers, entertainers and ladies programs.  Please don’t be shy.

I have been to a few meetings in Victoria with Tammy Blair, Rod Zimmerman, and other MoE staff to discuss issues regarding the Water Well Data Base, or WELLS as it is known.  I am the official “Users Advocate”, and am there to provide input from a data base users perspective.  If you have any comments or suggestions besides “change the name of the Well Tag Number”, and “deal with the back log of well records”, please forward them to me at dslade@telus.net, or david@drillwell.com, and I will pass them on to the Ministry.  For your information the Well Tag Number is being changed to Data Base Number, so that it will no longer be confused with the ID Plate number.  And as far as the well record backlog is concerned we are trying a couple of methods from inside and outside of Government for securing the necessary funding to deal with data entry of old records, and keep up with the new ones as they are submitted.

There is a second printing of the Groundwater Regulation Handbook that will be available for distribution shortly.  If you would like a copy, or additional copies, they will be provided free of charge while funding for them lasts.

If you have not visited our website for a while you should check it out at www.bcgwa.org.  There are links on the website to take you to the Water Well Data Base, as well as to the Ground Water Protection Regulation.  Also there is general information for your clients on wells and aquifers, and links to other water related organizations.

I would like to congratulate everyone on the level of professionalism that is growing throughout the drilling and groundwater industries.  In years gone by, it was common for the association, and even for independent contractors to receive complaints about unprofessional or unethical treatment of clients, competitors or suppliers.  Complaints ranged from sexist and racist behaviors, to misrepresentation and cheating.  Today it seems that almost all of the players have raised the bar to the point where in the 18 months that I have served as President, there has been only two complaints brought to the Association.  One from a difficult person who couldn’t get any contractor to set foot on her property, and another from a well owner who could not get a contractor to send her an invoice for the work he had done.  It is both amazing and rewarding to see such a dramatic change.  I believe that a lot of it has to do with knowledge and respect.  Respect for our clients, our business associates and our competitors, and knowledge of the laws both natural and civil that set the limits on how and what we can accomplish.  Written contracts help, industry publications help, and networking with all types of industry players at conventions and trade shows helps tremendously. 

It all comes down to communication and responsibility.  If you are clear and honest about the troubles or complications with an order, a shipment, a borehole, a well, or a pump test, people are likely to respond in a patient and respectful manner.  If you take responsibility for a problem people are likely to give a second chance, and if you apologize for an inconvenience they are likely to sympathize.

We can all be proud of the strides that have been made in the past 10 years. If it is a question of ethics, the answer is “you’ve got em”.  Keep up the good work, and continue to raise the bar. 

Regards to all,
David Slade
President BCGWA

Click here for a map of the BCGWA Administrative Regions

2007 - 2008 Executive Members

Ministry of the Environment Update

In this newsletter, we provide an update on a number of items related to the Ministry of Environment’s activities in the last few months:

• Groundwater outreach pilot project;
• Water quality surveys for arsenic on the Gulf Islands and Northern BC;
• Aquifer classification update;
• BCGWA Driller’s Training Workshop;
• EWELLs - Electronic submission of well records;
• Ministry groundwater staff contacts.

Groundwater Outreach Pilot Project
An outreach pilot project was initiated in the spring of 2007 to work with the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board and the Canadian Association of Home and Property Inspectors to raise their awareness of Ground Water Protection Regulation and related issues associated with homes that are being bought and sold. Another intent of the pilot project was to convey to prospective purchasers their responsibilities under the Ground Water Protection Regulation. 

In preparing for the outreach pilot project, the following activities took place: the Ministry’s private well owner and rural well owner brochures were updated and printed; the Ministry’s groundwater quality fact sheets (www.env.gov.bc.ca/wsd/plan_protect_sustain/groundwater/library/ground_fact_sheets/index.html) were updated to reflect new information and several thousand sets were printed; and a checklist was developed to assist the seller to disclose information about their well water supply. Information packages were assembled and distributed to those realtors/home inspectors attending the outreach presentations.

A presentation was made to a group of ~100 Nanaimo area realtors by Sylvia Kenny on March 9th and information packages containing groundwater brochures, groundwater quality fact sheets, realtor checklists, and Health file fact sheets were passed out to those attending.  Realtors indicated that the materials provided and the presentation was useful to them and that they would utilize the information materials in their work.

Two training sessions were provided to the Canadian Association of Home and Property Inspectors on April 22nd by Sylvia Kenny and Vicki Carmichael.  There were ~60 home and property inspectors in attendance.  Inspectors indicated that the materials were useful to them but some had concerns with respect to liabilities.  As inspectors generally only inspect things that they can see, there may be an opportunity to develop a well inspection course with the BCGWA for home and property inspectors and to work more closely with this group in the future. It is likely that the inspection would be limited to notifying the owner of issues such as whether a well has a proper cover, cap or stick-up and whether unused abandoned wells are evident.

Evaluation of this pilot project will be conducted to gauge its effectiveness and the usefulness of the materials in the information package and will assist with any future expansion of this outreach pilot to other areas of the province.  Outreach projects of this type allow government to reach home owners with information on regulatory and non-regulatory issues related to groundwater.

Water quality surveys for arsenic on the Gulf Islands and Northern BC
Groundwater continues to be a viable source of water supply in BC because of its excellent quality.  However, there are some local areas with arsenic detections in isolated pockets within Northern BC and on the Gulf Islands, although the levels were mostly within the former Canadian Drinking Water Quality Guideline for arsenic. With the revision of the arsenic guideline in 2006 from 25 μg/L to 10 μg/L there is an increased public interest in the health risk of arsenic in groundwater.  Most recently, Northern Health has issued public notices to a community near Prince George and residences in Vanderhoof on the issue. A proactive approach to ascertain the extent of the health risk from arsenic in drinking water is desirable.

Provincial funding has been provided for two water quality surveys for arsenic – one on Vancouver Island (funding to the B. C. Conservation Foundation) and one in the northern part of BC (funding to Northern Health Authority).  These funds will support an investigation into elevated levels of arsenic which have been found in various locations across northern BC and on the Gulf Islands. Both private domestic wells and community drinking water supply wells will be sampled in both projects but the focus of the Northern BC project will be to sample community drinking water well supplies.  The Gulf Islands project is being carried out in partnership with Environment Canada and the B.C. Conservation Foundation.

In addition to the arsenic survey, the Northern BC project will involve placing Well Identification Plates on the community drinking water wells and completing and submitting information required for water supply systems under the Ground Water Protection Regulation.  It is hoped that original well construction reports will also be collected to enable the Ministry of Environment to ensure that the well is included in the provincial WELLS database.  Drinking water inventory projects conducted on Vancouver Island and in the Okanagan have found that only 50% of the public drinking water system wells are in the provincial database.

These projects benefit both the Health Authorities and the Ministry of Environment in terms of better understanding water quality risks to groundwater users. Ultimately, it will be the
groundwater users who will benefit from improved risk management decisions.

Aquifer Classification Update
It has been recognized for a number of years that a greater understanding of the existence and characteristics of aquifers in British Columbia is essential. In 1994, a map based aquifer classification system was developed for the Province’s “Water Management Program" to identify, map and categorize aquifers using data from the provincial water well database. Much of the data for this work comes from well records voluntarily submitted by the drillers of the province over the years. The objective of this aquifer classification system is to inventory and prioritize aquifers for future aquifer characterization, management, and protection of the Province's ground water resource.

To date, over 900 aquifers have been delineated (see Fig. 1). During the Ministry of Environment’s 2006/2007 fiscal year, 108 developed aquifers were identified, delineated and classified. There were 72 unconsolidated aquifers and 36 bedrock aquifers. Five were classified as IA aquifers, that is, these aquifers were both highly developed and highly vulnerable. Eleven aquifers in total were classified as highly developed. Nineteen aquifers were classified as highly vulnerable, 29 moderately vulnerable and for 60 aquifers, the vulnerability was considered low. Approximately 10% of the aquifers were reported to have a quantity or quality issue. These aquifers were located throughout the Province, from Northern Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands to the Lower Mainland, the Kootenays and the Cariboo region. These aquifers will be added to the British Columbia Water Resource Atlas aquifer coverage during the summer of 2007. For more information on BC‘s Aquifer Classification System and to view the aquifers on the Province’s internet mapping site, refer to the following URLs: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/wsd/plan_protect_sustain/groundwater/aquifers/index.html and http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/wsd/data_searches/wrbc/index.html.

Fig. 1 Status of Aquifer Classification Mapping

BCGWA Driller’s Training Workshop
A BIG thank you to everyone who participated in the driller’s training workshop. There was a lot of information covered on how to use your Magellan GPS, taking an accurate reading and how to fill out a well construction report.

If you have any questions about your GPS or how to complete the well construction report, contact Tammy Blair at (250) 387-0014 or Tammy.Blair@gov.bc.ca.

Remember to include the geographic coordinates on the well construction reports!

EWELLS
If you would like to submit your well records electronically using EWELLS contact Tammy Blair at (250) 387-0014. Training will be arranged at your office location.

Regional and Headquarters Groundwater Contact Information
Lower Mainland Region (office in Surrey)
Tim Bennett, P. Eng., Groundwater Hydrologist (604) 582-5227
Mike Simpson, Groundwater Protection Officer (604) 582-5205
Vancouver Island Region (office in Nanaimo)
Pat Lapcevic, P.Geo., Groundwater Hydrologist, (250) 751-3149
Sylvia Kenny, Groundwater Protection Officer (250) 751-3265
Roberta Paterson, Water Resource Technician 250 751-7119
Kootenay & Okanagan Regions (offices in Nelson and Penticton)
Groundwater Hydrologist, Vacant – To be filled
Trina Stewart, Groundwater Protection Officer, (250) 490-8276
Monty Miedreich, Groundwater Protection Officer (250) 354-6376
Thompson & Cariboo Regions (offices in Kamloops and Williams Lake)
Kevin Bennett, P.Eng., Groundwater Hydrologist, (250) 371-6319
Laurie Lyons, Groundwater Protection Officer, (250) 371-6280
Omineca – Peace Region (office in Prince George)
Dave Tamblyn, P.Eng., Groundwater Hydrologist, (250) 565-4458
James Jacklin, Impact Assessment Biologist, (250) 565-4403
Skeena Regions (office in Smithers)
AJ Downie, Water Quality Technician, (250) 847-7277
Victoria – Headquarters
Mike Wei, P.Eng., Deputy Comptroller, Groundwater Hydrologist, (250) 356-5062
Vicki Carmichael, P. Ag., Groundwater Hydrologist, (250) 387-9465
Kevin Ronneseth, P. Geo., Groundwater Hydrologist, (250) 356-5180
Tammy Blair, Groundwater Data Technician, (250) 387-0014
Lindsay Macfarlane, Groundwater Data Technician, (250) 953-3408

To request additional well construction/closure forms, well identification plates, or the BC’s Ground Water Protection Regulation: What Private Well Owners Should Know brochures contact Tammy Blair (250) 387-0014 or Lindsay Macfarlane (250) 953-3408.

May 2007 Trip To Mali

Joan Perry indicated in an email, briefly after my returning from Mali, that it would be a good idea to write an article for this newsletter…so here it is.

I have mentioned at both the BCGWA 2006 and 2007 conventions the creation of the Global Aquifer Development Foundation (GADF; www.globalaquifer.org) , a foundation which has the objective to develop partnerships with developing nations highly relying on groundwater and to promote the characterization, protection, and management of groundwater used for drinking water. 

GADF has started a partnership with Mali, located in Western Africa.  Mali is one of the poorest countries in the world (e.g., life expectancy of 49 years for women and 46 for men). 

Early May, I traveled with Dr. Diana Allen (Professor of Hydrogeology at Simon Fraser University, who expressed a high interest in joining the efforts of GADF) to Mali to meet the people in charge of groundwater management and to build an understanding of the situation in Mali. In a nutshell, here is what we did:

We met with:

1. Housseini Maiga, head of the Integrated Water Resources Management Group (GIRE) and also chairman of the National Water Partnership.  He was our key contact and instrumental in

   The group responsible for integrated management of water in Mali

   Meeting with the regional team in Koulikoro

   Diana Allan discussing with students after a presentation

   Street Vendors in Bamako

   organizing the various activities and meetings we had.
2. The GIRE group, composed of 6 members (hydrologist, economist, communication, etc.)
3. The head of the division in charge of data management at the Direction Nationale de l’Hydraulique (DNH) and two of his staff (in charge of equipment and database)
4. The Technical Advisor at the Canadian Consulate (in charge of reviewing funding applications)
5. Profs from the Ecole Nationale des Ingénieurs (ENI)
6. Profs from Bamako University
7. The Head of the Continuing Education Department at ENI
8. Mamadou Sylla, President of the main consulting firm (SEROHS - water supply and sanitation) in Mali
9. The technical advisor to the National Director at the DNH
10. Representatives of the Global Water Partnership

We completed a short visit to a region (Mali has 8 regions) and met the DNH Head of the region and some of his staff.

We gave two workshops including the following presentations:

1. Aquifer sustainability
2. Aquifer vulnerability
3. Water wells under the influence of surface water
4. Modeling the Impact of climate change on groundwater resources
5. Interpretation of pumping tests
6. Well Development and rehabilitation

to an audience totaling over 50 people (including some people listed above + students – including several female students).

We saw some of the monitoring equipment the DNH has (data loggers) and cannot (do not know how to) operate.  

This trip really provided us with an opportunity a) to understand how water and groundwater is managed  b) to meet the players and c) to assess their strength and weaknesses.

We got a digital copy of their database (historic piezometric levels and geochemistry).  We also discussed potential cooperation between universities.  An immediate action followed:

1. Dr. Allen will direct a Master Student to assess the quality of the database and extract whatever can be extracted (starting in the fall)
2. Dr. Allen will co-direct a project with a Malian student, studying the recharge to aquifers in a targeted area.(probably in spring 2008)

On the way back, we had a meeting with the president of BURGEAP (www.burgeap.fr) in Paris, who offered full access to their library of reports for all the studies conducted in Mali.  Burgeap has been involved with water supply projects in Western Africa for 60 years.

As you can see, it was a busy trip.  Now, in addition to what SFU is starting, GADF needs to assess the tasks to be started and continued.  

Gilles

Global Aquifer Development Foundation

Dr. Gilles Wendling, P.Eng.
youhavewater@shaw.ca
www.globalaquifer.org

Happy Fathers Day
to all of you hard working men

To become a father is not difficult, but to be a father is…author unknown

Dear BCGWA Newsletter Editor

After reading the March 2007 edition of the BCGWA Newsletter I felt compelled to congratulate you on yet another well done issue. I read this newsletter regularly and I am constantly impressed with the amount of relevant and timely information it contains that is written in plain “contractor-friendly” language and presented in a simple format.
I always look forward to reading the President’s Message by David Slade, which are exceptionally well written and full of advice for contractors. He’s a pretty good word-smith …for a well driller. As well, the detailed information and industry updates in the Newsletter regarding the new water protection regulations in your province are very helpful to contractors who want to be compliant, but may struggle to keep abreast with the new rules and procedures.
In this issue I read a small article by Mr. Slade contemplating a change in format for the Newsletter where he refers to the Newsletter as being “low-budget.” For once I have to disagree with him. I believe that “cost-effective” is a better way to describe the format of this Newsletter. As editor of Ground Water Canada magazine I fully understand how expensive it is to compose, produce, print and mass-mail a magazine style publication. I encourage your association members to remember that the value of an association Newsletter is not in the thickness of the paper or in the glossy covers, but what it contains inside. Straight to the point information designed to educate members about their industry. That’s what your newsletter does, but it does it in a cost-effective way that does not drain your association’s finances.
My compliments to Joan Perry and the Newsletter production team for a job well done!

Chris Skalkos
Editor, Ground Water Canada magazine

Sanitary Regulation

Well drillers in British Columbia should be aware of section 42 of the Sanitary Regulation, established under the Health Act.  Generally speaking, it prohibits the installation of a well within 100 feet of probable sources of contamination (which the courts have held to include a septic field) or within 400 feet of a cemetery or dumping ground.  Specifically, section 42 states:

Every well hereafter sunk or dug shall be located at least 100 feet from any probable source of contamination, such as a privy vault, cesspool, manure heap, stable or pigsty, and at least 20 feet from any dwelling house, and at least 400 feet from any cemetery or dumping ground; unless, owing to the physical conformation, contamination of such well be impossible from such cemetery or dumping ground.  Any like source of contamination existing within the aforesaid distances from any well now in use shall be removed where possible, or in default the well shall be abandoned and filled up; but this rule shall not apply to wells situated less than 20 feet from a dwelling house, unless other good cause than proximity to such dwelling house can be shown why such well shall be abandoned…  If well drillers have any questions regarding the application of the section to a particular case, they should consult their local health authority.

Greg Baytalan
Project Manager, Land Use
Health Protection, Ministry of Health
1515 Blanshard Street
Victoria, B. C.  V8W 3C8
Ph: 250-952-1501
Greg.Baytalan@gov.bc.ca

Turn off the tap while you brush your teeth and you’ll save 8 gallons of water.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to the Alberta Water Well Drilling Association on their 50th Anniversary.

The AWWDA has accomplished great things over the past 50 years.  The water well industry continues to grow although there are many issues ahead to be dealt with.  Some of these issues were being dealt with when the Association was being formed.

Many past members were contacted and asked to attend the Province’s annual convention in April.  An evening with piano bar entertainment with songs from the past, present and future was arranged with a cake cutting ceremony to follow.

A Question of Ethics

June 2007

I mentioned elsewhere in this newsletter that there had been almost no complaints from the general public to the Ground Water Association about the work of contractors.  This is great news, and speaks of a high ethical standard amongst the men with the mud on their boots.  They tend to treat their clients fairly, and usually pay their bills in a timely fashion.

There is however a complaint that I hear over and over again when I am speaking with the contractors themselves.  This issue affects drillers of all types, and many pump installers and well testers.  It can have the effect of crippling a cash flow, and evaporating profits.  It is the problem of engineering firms with chronically overdue accounts.

I had a chat with a really nice guy who is a lawyer and a friend, who offered me some free information.  Okay Okay; he is a lawyer, so he isn’t really that nice, and he probably doesn’t have any friends, and he will probably send me a large invoice (and maybe a summons if he reads this).  In any case, he told me that the legal profession has a very strict code of ethics that requires them to pay for the goods and services that they purchase, in a timely fashion.  If they don’t live up to these ethical requirements, they can be called in front of their professional association and be fined or suspended (disbarred).

I don’t believe that such a specific code of ethics exists for Engineers and Geoscientists, but I have sent an email to their association (APEG), asking for details of their association policies in this regard. 

Here is the gist of the problem:  A contractor will be retained by an engineering firm to provide materials and/or services for a specific client at a specific site.  In many cases the contractor will have no knowledge of who the client or the site owner is.  This means that the contractor has no ability to check the background or credit of the client and is not a party to the terms of engagement between the engineer and the client.  The services and materials that are provided by the contractor may take the form of wages, fuel, construction materials and crew subsistence.  All of these things are provided at a marked up price, and in most cases must be paid for in 30 days.  The engineering firm then takes those charges and in most cases marks them up or adds a carrying charge, and eventually passes them along to the client.  It may be many weeks or even months before the Engineer passes the final report and invoice to the client, and many more weeks or months before the client pays the Engineer, and then the Engineer finally pays the contractor.

It is quite common for these situations to last for ninety or 120 days, and not uncommon for them to drag out for six months to a year.  All this time the contractor may be paying interest to the bank on lines of credit, and basically seeing his anticipated profit disappear.  So in essence even though a mark up or carrying charge may be applied by the Engineer to the contractor’s invoice before it is passed on to the client, it is the contractor that does the carrying.

So from an ethical perspective the question is “Is it reasonable to expect the contractor to carry the extended financial burden for a client he does not know, and an Engineer who marks up his charges but will not pay interest on past due accounts?”

The general terms offered are usually that the contractor will be paid in a timely fashion, AFTER the Engineer receives payment from the client.  What then should happen if the client is not happy with the Engineer, or takes issue with the work done and refuses to pay at all?  Should it be the contractor that paid for all of the materials and labour, performed the work as directed and submitted a fair invoice in good faith, who bears the brunt of the financial burden?

This problem of course does not exist with all firms.  Some firms charge a retainer and use those monies to pay for the contractor’s portion of the job.  Some pay promptly with the knowledge that the mark up they charge will compensate them for the time they must actually “carry” the charges. And I believe that if all parties were to honestly consider it they would agree that contractors should never have to wait sixty days to be paid for their work.  I don’t believe that Engineers expect the laboratories or the telephone company, the couriers, the car rentals, or the jobsite hotels to wait until the client eventually pays.  Is there really a reason the contractors should be treated any differently?

The reason that I am writing this piece is at the prompting of an old friend of mine who is a nice guy and an Engineer.  No really!!  I can’t mention his name since it might get him flogged at the next meeting of APEG, but he really thought that there would be some merit in pushing the “ethical” button.  I believe that everyone wants to be seen as an ethical business person, and work for a firm that treats other firms in the most ethical fashion.  So perhaps it is just this little nudge from a fellow professional that is needed to inspire a few firms to make the minor policy changes required to relieve the undue stress and financial hardship that some contractors are forced to endure on a regular basis.

I have a dream.

David Slade
Contractor

Comments and feedback are invited.

Help Wanted

2 positions – shipper/Receiver and Technical Customer Support for Plumbing wholesale company.  Salary ranges from 30k to 42k depending on position and experience.  Full benefit package and generous profit sharing.  Apply by e.mail to mdechamplain@emcoltd.com with resume.

Marc deChamplain
EMCO Corporation
Ph: 604-888-8150
Fax: 604-888-4500

Small Steps

1.  Global agriculture sucks up roughly 90 % of all the water we use on this planet.  On a local level, we need to conserve as much water as possible.  Try installing a rain barrel (or even a small pail on the patio) to catch water for your garden and house plants. Visit: www.ec.gc.ca/water/

2.  One-third of what we eat – things like apples, chocolate, coffee and almonds is dependent upon pollinators.  Animals like bees, butterflies and birds transport important pollen grains from one part of the flower to another.  In Canada, pollinators represent a billion dollar business.  But these animals are in decline because of habitat destruction and the overuse of pesticides.  www.nappc.org

3.  No one likes an idling car, especially during the summer.  If you have to drive and you are going to be stopped for more than 10 seconds (except in traffic), turn off your engine.  Idling your vehicle for longer than 10 seconds uses more fuel than it would take to restart your vehicle.  But I prefer a bicycle!  www.greencars.com

By David Suzuki
www.davidsuzuki.org

Convention Highlights

The convention held in Langley at the Coast Hotel and Convention Centre was probably our best ever!  We had such an amazing turn out of people from all areas of our industry and province. 

The three workshops that were held, the Pump Installers Course (Level 1 & 2), the confined space workshop and driller’s workshop were full and some people had to be turned away.  This is a good indication that there is a definite need for these types of courses and they will be offered again at next years convention.

Again, this year we had some excellent speakers.  Starting off the technical presentations was Edd Schofield from the McEllhiney Lecture series. 

We had two rooms of presentations going on at the same time and it was very hard for many to decide which room they wanted to be in.  The different areas of talks that were covered were surface/groundwater interaction, small water systems-operations and liabilities, geothermal wells, updates from Victoria and Ottawa and pumps.

Allison Bird, earthquake Seismologist, Geological Survey of Canada gave an excellent presentation of earthquakes in Western Canada during our Thursday lunch.

Thank you, Gilles for arranging such an interesting and informative program.

The trade show area was very busy with 30 display booths set up.  The Higgins Family entertained for the evening and everyone was thrilled with the music and energy shown by this young group.  Thank you Sheridan Gaudet for arranging this.

We all had fun playing “Name That Tune” at our banquet and entertainment.  We had a lot of laughs and found out what a wild bunch those Professional and Technical people are when they let their hair down but nobody knew as many songs as Kathleen Chisholm who proved to be the winner of the evening.  Who knew that she used to sing opera!

The Annual General Meeting had a disappointing turn out, with only 21 in attendance.  I know everyone is anxious to get home after the convention but the AGM is also one of the main parts of this event.  The minutes from the AGM have been included elsewhere in this Newsletter.

On the whole we had a lot of positive feedback from many people.  They loved the location, the talks, the displays, the entertainment and the food.

Next year, our convention will be held from March 3rd – 7th, 2008 at the Grand Okanagan in Kelowna.  Please mark your calendars now. 

Thank you to the Manufactures & Suppliers who displayed at our Convention.  You helped to make our show a real success.

- Alberta Water Well Drilling Association
- Andrew Sheret Ltd.
- Angus Flexible Pipelines
- Atlas Copco
- Atlas Manufacturing Ltd.
- Corix Water Products
- Cubex Ltd.
- Cycle Stop Valves
- Delta Irrigation Ltd.
- Emco Corporation
- Foremost Industries LP
- Langley Welding & Machine Shop Ltd.
- Ministry of Environment
- Marwyn Sales & Supplies
- Osprey Scientific
- Pacific Waterworks
- Pump Systems Inc.
- Rice Engineering & Operating Ltd.
- Sego Industries Ltd.
- Sphere Drilling Supplies
- True Blue Technologies
- Tundra Sales Inc.
- Van Isle Water Services Ltd.
- Variperm Canada Ltd.
- Waterite Technologies
- Westcoast Drilling Supplies
- Western Drilling Tools Inc.
Also, thank you to these companies who donated to our various events.

- Atlas Manufacturing Ltd.
- Flexcon Industries
- Marwyn Sales & Supplies Ltd.
- Sphere Drilling Supplies
- Variperm Canada Ltd.
- Westcoast Drilling Supplies

Upcoming Events

Six-one day workshops have been scheduled for small water systems this fall in cooperation with Interior Health and Northern Health.

September 17 -            Cranbrook
September 28 -            Williams Lake
October 1       -            Salmon Arm
October 15     -            Terrace
October 17     -            Prince George
October 19     -            Fort St. John

Contact Denny Ross-Smith
Small Water Users Association of BC
118 Chatham Street
Nelson, B. C.  V1L 3Y8
Ph: 250-505-5150
www.smallwaterusers.com

March 3-7, 2008
BCGWA Convention
The Grand Okanagan Lakefront Resort
and Conference Centre
Kelowna, B. C.
Contact: BCGWA 604-530-8934

May 14-17, 2008
CanWell 2008
Shaw Conference Centre
Edmonton, Alberta
Contact: 780-386-2335

Unusual Order!

The following e.mail was received by Derek McGladdery who found this order to be quite comical. 

“Hello, I am John from JB & Sons Ltd.  I need to order some Bedrock Wells unit to be ship to West Africa (GHANA).  I wanna know the types you have in stock now and I will appreciate if you could e.mail me the unit price.  Also may I know your methods of payment?  Thanks and waiting to hear from you soon.  Regards, John Smith”

Derek was also wondering if they would like some rock softener too!

Nation’s water at risk,
federal documents say

Ottawa – The threats of global warming, bulk exports and high household water use are putting Canada’s status as a water-rich nation in jeopardy, say newly released federal documents.

Canada possesses an estimated 7% of the world’s renewable supply with only 0.5% of the global population.  But the documents, produced over the last year by the Natural Resources Department, warn Canadians face challenges in the future since scientists simply do not know how long the supplies can last.

“Ongoing issues, such as bulk water exports, high domestic water use, and climate change, suggest that we must be prepared for a nonlinear future when it comes to reconciling uncertain supplies with growing demands.”

The documents, obtained by Ottawa researcher Ken Rubin after an Access to Information request, stress that little is known about Canada’s groundwater supplies, and that it could take up to 30 years to produce a comprehensive inventory of the resource, unless there is a massive injection of new research funding.

“Groundwater is the principal water supply for approximately 30% of Canadians, yet we know very little about it,” say the federal documents.  “Future climate change scenarios vary widely in their predictions, which confounds the knowledge deficit even further; we don’t know how water supplies will be impacted and how best to adapt.  Ironically, the current state of knowledge of the resource is inversely proportional to its importance.”

Numerous companies are now allowed to exploit Canada’s water through bottled water exports.  While no one is doing bulk exports, the existing federal legislation might not be enough to stop takers or pipelines from taking large quantities south in the future.

Provinces could authorize bulk exports since water management is a shared federal-provincial responsibility under the constitution, but federal bureaucrats suggest the government should use exceptional powers to close the door.

A senior researcher, who specializes in ground water science at natural Resources Canada, said the government increased funding for research in recent years, but he confirmed that the dire warnings from the federal documents justify the need for more action.

“In the future, water will become more and more at risk,” said Alfonso Rivera, the chief hydrogeologist of the Geological Survey of Canada.

“We have to invest for the future, and the future is tomorrow.  It’s not 2007, but who knows?  In 2010, 2012, as these things change, yes, then water supplies will be at stake.  But for the moment, there’s still time to go on.”

Rivera also confirmed that the limited knowledge of groundwater resources means that scientists cannot estimate the supply or figure out how much is left.

International treaties protect Canada’s surface water in lakes and rivers from any deliberate attempts to drain the resource south, but he noted that underground supplies are at risk.

The documents say the issue has been neglected by Canadian governments for decades.

The Vancouver Sun
May 14, 2007
Mike de Souza

Note: Alfonso Rivera was a guest speaker at our convention.

A Helpful Wife!

A police officer pulls over a speeding car.  The officer says, “I clocked you at 80 miles per hour, sir.”

The driver says, “Gee, officer I had it on cruise control at 60, perhaps your radar gun needs calibrating.”

Not looking up from her knitting the wife says: “Now don’t be silly dear, you know that this car doesn’t have cruise control.”

As the officer writes out the ticket, the driver looks over at his wife and growls, “Can’t you please keep your mouth shut for once?”

The wife smiles demurely and says, “You should be thankful your radar detector went off when it did.”

As the officer makes out the second ticket for the illegal radar detector unit, the man glowers at his wife and says through clenched teeth, “Damit, woman, can’t you keep your mouth shut?”

The officer frowns and says, “And I notice that you’re not wearing your seat belt, sir.  That’s an automatic $75 fine.”
The driver says, “Yea, well, you see officer, I had it on, but took it off when you pulled me over so that I could get my license out of my back pocket.”

The wife says, “Now, dear, you know very well that you didn’t have your seat belt on.  You never wear your seat belt when you’re driving.”

And as the police officer is writing out the third ticket the driver turns to his wife and barks, “WHY DON’T YOU PLEASE SHUT UP??”
The officer looks over at the woman and asks, “Does your husband always talk to you this way, Ma’am?”

            I love this part…

“Only when he’s been drinking.”

Working in Africa

David Slade keeps asking me to write something for our newsletter about some of my overseas experiences – I actually think he is just checking up on me to verify that I am not off on holidays, or worse yet, dodging my responsibilities with BCGWA. 

Currently, I am assisting my Golder colleagues from Australia on a project in Mauritania Africa, where we are looking for groundwater in the Sahara Desert to meet the demands of a processing plant for what should be the largest iron ore mine in the world.  This project is challenging both technically and on a personal level.  The technical challenge is that there is not much storage (or recharge) in fractured bedrock aquifers beneath the Sahara, so we have been using geophysics to identify drilling locations, drilling lots of exploratory boreholes to greater than 1,000 ft depth and completing long-duration pumping tests (>90 days).  I especially like the pumping tests as it is not often that you have data sets for long term tests in bedrock including data from many observation wells. 

On the personal side, it is unbelievably hot and dusty in the Sahara.  As you would expect travel is difficult, bouncing around through the sand dunes.  I tend to shy away from using air
conditioning, as the extremes you can experience between inside and outside, can
give you the worst of colds.  Fortunately there is no malaria where I have been.  My wife and I just about died in 1995 of cerebral malaria in Nigeria.  I expect I will be involved in this project for a while to come, as time permits.

Over the years, I have lived and worked in many overseas countries in Africa including Ethiopia (2 yrs), Nigeria (4 yrs), Ghana (8 months) and Kenya, as well as several countries in South America (about 1.5 yrs in total).  I also spent 3 months in Australia last year.  Most of the work in Africa has been for potable water supply on World Bank or CIDA projects.  Most of my other overseas work has been for water supply or environmental impact assessments on mining projects.  

It has been fun to work with drillers from around the world, to learn and share ideas, to experience different cultures and to travel.  It’s hard to believe that I first went overseas over twenty years ago to Ethiopia, and that when I was first asked to go, I did not even know where Ethiopia was.  Ed Livingston hired me back then (on behalf of Associated Engineering).  Thanks Ed – you forged the way for many of us hydrogeologists and you truly changed my life. 

Remi Allard,
Golder Associates

Advertising Prices

¼ page ad $ 25.00
½ page ad $ 45.00
full page ad $ 90.00