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:

BCGWA PLANNING SESSION SUMMARY REPORT - CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

NEW! LOW STREAM FLOW ADVISORY - THOMPSON/NICOLA - CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

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

Click here to download the PDF file of an important update on Ground Water Protection Regulation (GWPR) from the BC Ministry of Environment. (updated Sept 17, 2007)

March 2010 Newsletter

This Newsletter is published quarterly, March, June, September and December by the B.C.
Ground Water Association. For more information please contact: Executive Secretary, Joan
Perry, 1708 – 197 A Street, Langley, B. C. V2Z 1K2. Phone or Fax: 604-530-8934.
BCGWA Website address: www.bcgwa.org
BCGWA e.mail address: secretary.bcgwa@shaw.ca

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President’s Report

I hope you are all looking forward to our annual convention in Kelowna, from March 15-19. We are hoping for a good turnout as this is our 40th anniversary and it is only right that we sit down and reflect on how the organization has changed over time. We have some good presenters this year and some special events planned in recognition of the history of the organization and the individuals that have made a difference.

I have agreed to stay on as President for a couple more years, which is not a huge burden as Joan and Bruce are doing an excellent job in keeping things running efficiently. In other words, the engine is running smoothly and we don’t need an oil change just yet.

You may or may not know that we were approached by CGWA to host the 2012 CANWELL – a couple of years earlier than what we initially offered to do, as Quebec was not up to the task. Unfortunately, we had to decline and you should know that we did this for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it is critical to be organized early and have a presence at the previous CANWELL (this year in Winnipeg), which we simply had no time to prepare for. Secondly, and equally important, our Board and Executive are predominated by individuals that have been around a long time (recycled I might add), which means that we really need to inject some new energy into our organization so we can handle hosting such a big event. Having said this, I strongly encourage you to become more involved in the BCGWA. We still plan to host 2014!

Note: Would anyone have copies of two old books that I am looking for? One is the Australian Drillers Handbook and the other is the first edition of Groundwater and Wells (the dark green, soft cover thinner version?) Please contact the office or me directly.

Looking forward to seeing you in Kelowna

Remi Allard

MARCH 2010 BCGWA NEWSLETTER ARTICLE

………..from the desk of the Managing Director

It has been a busy time for us at the “office” in preparation for our 40th Anniversary Celebration Convention and Workshop in Kelowna, March 15 to 19. Joan has been especially busy with the many requirements of hosting the event. As you will see in details elsewhere we are again presenting the Pump Installers Courses (L1 & L2), the CGWA Driller’s Course and related exams as well as the Crane Safety Workshop. In addition this year we are hosting a day long workshop for the recently published GWUDI Guidance Document for government health and environmental staff, groundwater consultants and groundwater supply purveyors. More information on the Conference and GWUDI workshop is presented separately in this newsletter.

The other noteworthy event that happened recently is a meeting Executive members and I attended with John Slater, MLA, Parliamentary Secretary for Water Supply and Allocation. This is a new position created by Minister of Environment Barry Penner. John Slater is now legislative contact for issues dealing with groundwater. A copy of a memo on the events during the meeting is shown elsewhere in this newsletter.

During this busy period we have developed the first BCGWA general brochure to provide information on our association to the public in general. This item is long overdue and just been received from the printers to be presented at the Convention in Kelowna.

Remember to attend the AGM on Friday, March 19 at 9:00 AM. This is your organization, so please be there to support it. Most existing Directors are willing to be re-elected; however Tim Oster is stepping down for the time being to recover from his recent illness. Therefore we are in need of a nomination for the office of Vice President, (and President in training). Remi has agreed to stay on for another year as President. So please give thought to who may be a suitable canditate for VP and our next President, especially considering we are hosting CanWell here in 2014.

Best wishes to you all and I am looking forward to connecting with you in Kelowna.

Bruce Ingimundson

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Membership Dues!

Just a reminder that all membership dues are to be paid by April 15th if you want to be included in the membership booklet and our website.

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MEETING WITH JOHN SLATER, MLA ON JANUARY 19, 2010

On August 30, 2009, BCGWA wrote a letter to the Honourable Barry Penner, Minister of Environment regarding concerns our association has with respect to the long delay in issuing the “Phase 2” groundwater regulations and in-action of the Ground Water Advisory Board (GWAB). We received a response letter from Minister Penner on October 8, 2009 offering us a meeting with John Slater, MLA (Boundary-Similkameen), the then new Parliamentary Secretary for Water Supply and Allocation.

On January 19, 2010 three Executive members; (Allard, Mellis & Slade) and the Managing Director met with Mr. Slater, Lynn Kriwoken, (Director) and Mike Wei, (Deputy-Comptroller of Water Rights/Groundwater), at the Legislature in Victoria. General discussion ensued regarding our concerns about; lack of regulations, lack of enforcement of existing regulations and the future of the Ground Water Advisory Board.

The following items resulted from the conversations at the meeting:
• The government has decided to pursue a direct approach to the public on issues of groundwater, including their recently established “Blog” site and an upcoming series of regional public meetings around the province by ministry staff. Effectively GWAB has been dissolved;
• Financial limitations require a hold on the submission of the revised BC Ground Water Protection Regulations (which would include most of the GWAB created “Phase 2” draft regulations), and updating of the Water Act;
• The Ministry will not proceed with the mandatory requirement that all well logs be submitted within a specified time period as there is no staff available to process the logs on to the WELLS data base. BCGWA will investigate the feasibility of having the logs processed in the private sector, subject to a fee being charged for retrieval by the public;
• Two items* regarding groundwater have recently received Orders in Council (OIC) as amendments to the Water Regulation under the Water Act – one was a regulation authorizing a person to divert and use surface water for drilling purposes, the other being the establishment of ticketable offences particularly related to the GWPR.
• We requested the ministry review the draft regulations and see if there are other items that could be brought forward for consideration as future OIC items that require little government staff input and support our industry and the groundwater resource.
• The issue of groundwater contamination by direct injection of storm water waste into an aquifer, and the problem with various jurisdictions not taking responsibility for this problem was discussed. The Ministry promised to look into this issue.

*Please refer to the Ministry of Environment report for these regulations along with more detailed information from the Ministry.

Generally, it would be fair to say that we were disappointed that the regulations GWAB worked so hard for, and were anticipating this year, will not happen. We understand the current economic situation and agreed we will continue to maintain a connection with the provincial government. We will endeavour to push forward issues of concern from our association with the Ministry.

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Court Halts Unlicensed Drilling by Public Entity

The State of California 5th District Court of Appeals has halted the unlicensed drilling of water wells by a public entity in a lawsuit involving the California Groundwater Association (CGA) and the Semitropic Water Storage District (Semitropic) in Kern County.

The Court ruled that public entities, such as water storage districts, are not exempt from drilling water wells without a C-57 license as specified in Water Code Section 13750.5. “The Court’s decision is a major step in protecting the state’s ground water,” notes CGA executive director Mike Mortensson. “Just being a public entity does not guarantee that the entity has the requisite skills and knowledge to drill water wells. That’s why we brought action in this matter, and we are extremely pleased with the Court’s reversal of the lower court’s ruling,” remarks Mortensson. CGA had filed the lawsuit in 2008 after Semitropic began to drill its own wells and refused to halt such actions.

Semitropic contended that it was exempt from Water Code 13750.5 as it was a public entity, a property owner and had engineering skills to construct wells. The Court rejected those assertions, noting the C-57 license requirement was imposed in Water Code Section 13750.5, which contained no exemptions, and did not reference any of the exemptions to the Contractors State Licensing Law.

The Court’s decision, made on November 9, 2009, is Case No. F056823, titled California Groundwater Association v Semitropic Water Storage District.

Semitropic has the right to file an appeal to the California Supreme Court.

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GROUND WATER UNDER THE DIRECT INFLUENCE {of surface water} THE NEW GWUDI GUIDELINE

Recently the Ministry of Healthy Living and Sport and the Ministry of Environment funded the creation of the “Guidance Document for Determining Ground Water at Risk of Containing Pathogens including Ground Water Under the Direct Influence of Surface Water”. The new GWUDI Guideline was drafted by Alan Kohut,P.Eng. of Hy-Geo Consulting. The BCWWA Drinking Water Committee with support from the BC Ground Water Association (BCGWA) developed and hosted a one-day workshop on November 20, 2009 in Richmond entitled “What You Ought to Know About the New GWUDI Guideline”.

The workshop opened with a registration and breakfast followed by an introduction from Len Clarkson, Drinking Water Officer with Vancouver Coastal Health, Daisy Foster, CEO, BCWWA and Bruce Ingimundson, M.Dir. BCGWA.

A series of presentations followed: Introduction to the GWUDI Guideline and Sources for Information for GWUDI Assessment, (Vicki Carmichael); Overview of the Guidance Document (Al Kohut) and Basics of Well Construction & Broadly Defined Hydrogeological Settings (Doug Geller).

Following a break for lunch, the workshop attendees split into groups of approximately 6-8 participants for the Breakout Sessions which were guided by Al Kohut. The sessions involved working with a series of GWUDI situations applied to the GWUDI GUIDELINE Stage 1 Screening Tool. Al led the participants though three scenarios in different BC geographic settings with respect to the potential impact of surface water on ground water:

• A golf course with a high capacity irrigation well situated just outside a major river floodplain;
• A trailer park with a shallow dug well and deep drilled municipal domestic well in a river floodplain and;
• A campground and equestrian training centre with three shallow sand point wells, providing domestic and agricultural water supply to the facility.
Each group approached the challenges of GWUDI when applying the Stage 1 Screening Tool. Each group selected a speaker to summarize their findings on how the screening tool would apply.

Following the windup of the breakout sessions, Panel Discussion ensued with questioning of the Panel (Len Clarkson, Bruce Ingimundson, Vicki Charmichael, Al Kohut and Doug Geller) responding as applicable. The discussions scheduled for 45 minutes lasted close to 2 hours.

The very successful workshop attracted a sell out limit of 50 participants. The workshop will be run again by the BCGWA on March 16, 2010 in Kelowna at their Annual Convention and Trade Show, (see www.bcgwa.org ) and is also planned to be part of the BCWWA Annual Conference in Whistler in May 2010 (see www.bcwwa.org).

Water – How much is there and how much do we use?

We are all aware of the approaching global water crisis, particularly in the “water-short” areas. The issue is not how much water is on this planet, but how much water of an acceptable quality is available for our use.

The following table is a summary of the world’s total water supply in cubic miles. [To convert these data to gallons (U.S.), multiply by 1.1x10 ]

FRESH SALINE TOTAL

Rivers and streams 300 300
Freshwater lakes 30,000
Salt lakes and inland seas 25,000

Total surface water 30,300 25,000 55,300

Soil moisture and seepage 16,000
Underground water to ½ mile depth 1,000,000
Underground water to below ½ mile 1,000,000

Total ground water 2,016,000 2,016,000

Glaciers and ice caps 7,000,000
Oceans 317,000,000

Total world water supply 9,046,300 317,025,000 326,071,300

If you study the table, you will learn that about 97% of the water on this earth is saline, mostly in the oceans. Of what is left (“fresh” water), 78% is in glaciers and ice caps, so not much readily available water is left for us to access.

Keep in mind that we, and all other countries, have been reusing this water since organisms appeared on earth, so we are basically drinking dinosaur pee. The problem is that the earth’s expanding population is significantly affecting the quality of this fixed quantity of water. The more this water is reused, the lower its quality for the next person.

So, how much water does the average person use? It depends on where that person lives, both from the perspective of water availability and standard of living. In spite of years of cajoling and pleading from environmentalists and municipalities, we in the U.S. and Canada continue to be the biggest water wasters in the world.

Actually, we now use 127% more water per person than we did in 1950. To get specific, this is approximately how much water is currently used for the following household activities (per person):

Bath 40 gallons
5-minute shower 10 gallons
5-minute power shower 20 gallons
Brushing teeth with tap running 2 gallons/minute
Brushing teeth with tap off 0.25 gallon
One toilet flush 1.5 gallons
Other water use (drinking, cooking, etc.) 7 gallons
Washing machine 40 gallons
Dishwasher 10 gallons
Washing car with bucket 3 gallons
Hose/sprinkler 140 gallons/hour
What you might find surprising is that this household water usage pales when compared to the quantity of water used to grow the food we eat and the other products we buy. It turns out that about only 6% of the water used in the house is actually drunk, the other 94% is from food we eat and other purchased goods.
Please note the following list of examples:
Item Gallons of water used
1 almond 1
1 cantaloupe 25
1 tomato paste 55
1 bottle beer 470
1 gallon gasoline 7-10
1 gallon ethanol 5-7
1 watermelon 100
1 car 39,000
1 cup coffee 37
1 lb beef 1,900
1 lb chicken 467
1 lb cheese 599
1 microchip 8
1 apple 18
1 diaper (disposable) 214
1 cotton t-shirt 719
1 ream white paper 1,300
1 pair jeans 2,900

The United Nations has begun an initiative addressing “water footprint”. This is an indication of the total direct and indirect water usage by individual, product or business. The goal is to make people aware of how much water they use and to encourage water “neutrality”, the condition where all reasonable efforts have been made to reduce the water footprint and to encourage water sustainability. In the U.S., the per capita water footprint is 655,500 gallons per year, and in Canada, it is 540,900 gallons per year.

Now that we know about all this, perhaps we can make an effort to reduce water consumption for the sake of our grandchildren and the future of the world as we know it.

Peter S. Cartwright, PE
Communique

Oil Change instructions for Women:

1. Pull up to Jiffy Lube when the mileage reaches 3,000 miles since the last oil change.
2. Drink a cup of coffee.
3. 15 minutes later, write a cheque and leave, driving a properly maintained vehicle.
Money spent:

Oil Change:$30.00
Coffee: $1.00
Total $31.00

Oil Change instructions for Men:

1. Wait until Saturday, drive to auto parts store and buy a case of oil, filter, kitty litter, hand cleaner and a scented tree, use your debit card for $50.00.
2. Stop by 7/11 and buy a case of beer, (debit $20), drive home
3. Open a beer and drink it.
4. Jack car up. Spend 30 minutes looking for jack stands.
5. Find jack stands under kid’s pedal car.
6. In frustration, open another beer and drink it.
7. Place drain pan under engine.
8. Look for 9/16 box end wrench.
9. Give up and use crecent wrench.
10.Unscrew drain plug.
11.Drop drain plug in pan of hot oil: splash hot oil on you in process. Cuss.
12.Crawl out from under car to wipe hot oil off of face and arms. Throw kitty litter on spilled oil.
13.Have another beer while watching oil drain.
14.Spend 30 minutes looking for oil filter wrench.
15.Give up; crawl under car and hammer a screwdriver through oil filter and twist off.
16. Crawl out from under car with dripping oil filter splashing oil everywhere from holes. Cleverly hide old oil filter among trash in trash can to avoid environmental penalties. Drink a beer.
17. Install new oil filter making sure to apply a thin coat of oil to gasket surface.
18. Dump first quart of fresh oil into engine.
19. Remember drain plug from step 11.
20. Hurry to find drain plug in drain pan.
21.Drink beer.
22.Discover that first quart of fresh oil is now on the floor. Throw kitty litter on oil spill.
23.Get drain plug back in with only a minor spill. Drink beer.
24.Crawl under car getting kitty litter into eyes. Wipe eyes with oily rag used to clean drain plug. Slip with stupid crescent wrench tightening drain plug and bang knuckles on frame removing any excess skin between knuckles and frame.
25.Begin cussing fit.
26.Throw stupid crescent wrench.
27.Cuss for additional 5 minutes because wrench hit bowling trophy.
28. Beer.
29.Clean up hands and bandage as required to stop blood flow.
30.Beer.
31.Dump in five fresh quarts of oil.
32.Beer.
33. Lower car from jack stands.
34.Move car back to apply more kitty litter to fresh oil spilled during any missed steps.
35.Beer.
36.Test drive car.
37.Get pulled over: arrested for driving under the influence.
38.Car gets impounded.
39.Call loving wife, make bail.
40.12 hours later, get care from impound yard.
Money spent:

Parts: $50.00
DUI: $2,500.00
Impound fee: $75.00
Bail: $1,500.00
Beer: $20.00
Total: $4,145.00

But you know the job was done right!

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Living Water Smart

To those interested in BC’s water future.

Living Water Smart is the provincial government’s plan to keep our water healthy and secure for the future. A key commitment in the plan is to modernize our water laws to improve the protection of ecological values, provide for more community involvement, and provide incentives to be water efficient.

Over the coming weeks and months, we will be using a new Living Water Smart Blog to encourage water stewardship in BC, share your ideas and stories and celebrate our water smart successes. The Blog will also be used to support dialogue on modernizing the Water Act and will compliment a public discussion paper and a series of regional meetings to be announced early in the New Year.

As Parliamentary Secretary for Water Supply and Allocation, I will be championing the public engagement process and encourage you to get involved. I invite you to take a look at our Blog, make comments and join the conversation. Visit our website, contact us a livingwsatersmart@gov.bc.ca, or call 250-387-4734 for more information.

We look forward to hearing from you.

John Slater, MLA
Parliamentary Secretary for Water Supply and Allocation

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Convention Update!

We are getting closer to our upcoming Convention date from March 15th-19th, 2010. All the speakers are finalized and the registrations are coming in slow but sure! If you haven’t registered yet for the convention or workshops, please get your registrations in.

Remember this is our “40th” convention and we will have a lot of memorabilia to show for our 40 years of growth. We have workshops, meetings, trade show, a rig from Foremost will be on site, a women’s program, entertainment and a banquet with awards, slide show presentation and plenty of entertainment to last the whole evening. The Annual General Meeting will be on March 19th, 2010 from 9:00 am-12:00 pm. Come and help us celebrate this special convention year.

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Upcoming Events

B. C. Ground Water Association
“40th” convention
March 15-19, 2010
Delta Okanagan Grand
Kelowna, B. C.
Ph: 604-530-8934
e.mail: secretary.bcgwa@shaw.ca

SGWA Annual General Membership meeting
Holiday Inn, Saskatoon
March 26 & 27, 2010
Ph: 306-244-7551

AWWDA Convention
April 8-10, 2010
Mayfield Inn, Edmonton, Alberta
Theme: Christmas in April
Ph: 780-386-2335

Ontario Ground Water Association Convention
April 22-24, 2010
Niagara Falls, Ontario
Ph: 519-245-7194

BCWWA 2010 Conference
May 1 – 5, 2010
Whistler, B. C.
Ph: 604-739-1374

CanWell 2010
May 26-29, 2010
Winnipeg Manitoba
Ph: 204-470-6447 Fax: 204-334-52369
www.canwell2010.mgea.ca

Canadian Water Resources Association 63rd Annual National Conference
June 15-18, 2010
Vancouver, B. C.
Contact: Eva Li
Ph: 604-875-6391

Membership Changes/New Members

Pump Supplier & Installer:

Canadian Western Mechanical
884 Front Street
Quesnel, B. C. V2J 5Y3
Ph: 250-992-9807 Fax: 250-992-9012
e.mail: canwest@quesnelbc.com
Rep: Darryl Tolhurst

GPM Water Services
1219 Delta Avenue
Kamloops, B. C. V2B 3Y4
Ph: 250-376-9266
e.mail: gpmwaterservices@hotmail.com
Rep: Glen Francoeur

Lillooet Contracting
Box 1356
Lillooet, B. C. V0K 1V0
Ph: 250-256-7669 Fax: 250-256-4989
e.mail: lcl@telus.net
Rep: Douglas A. Grossler

Okanagan Well & Pump Service Inc.
3695 Sage Avenue
Armstrong, B. C. V0E 1B2
Ph: 250-550-5553
e.mail: Desjardins67@hotmail.com
Rep: Kelly Desjardins

Vortex Pump & Water Services Ltd.
105 Sunnybrook Drive
Okanagan Falls, B. C. V0H 1R3
Ph: 250-497-6157 Fax: 250-497-6257
e.mail: vortex@Skysurfer.ca
Rep: Rick Empey

Professional & Technical:

AMEC Earth and Environmental
913 Laval Crescent
Kamloops, B. C. V2C 5P4
Ph: 250-374-1347 Fax: 250-374-2944
e.mail: matt.sarkor@amec.com
Rep: Matt Sarkor

Caro Analytical Services
102 Hwy 97N
Kelowna, B. C. V1X 5C3
Ph: 250-765-9646 Fax: 250-765-3893
e.mail: gcraig@caro.ca
Rep: Glen Craig

WaterLine Resources Inc.
Shelley Bayne
229 Milton Street
Nanaimo, B. C. V9R 2K5
Ph: 250-741-6795 Fax: 250-751-7563
Toll Free: 1-888-472-2252
e.mail: sbayne@waterlineresources.com

M & S Division:

Maxxam Analytics
1104-4464 Markham Street
Victoria, B. C. V8Z 7X8
Ph: 250-385-6112
e.mail: david.nadler@maxxamanalytics.com
Rep: David Nadler

Multi-Power Products Ltd.
Rep: Tom Ulm
e.mail: ton@multipowerproducts.com

Sandvik Mining and Construction
18945-96th Avenue
Surrey, B. C. V4N 3P3
Ph: 604-888-0888 Fax: 604-888-3571
e.mail: bill.marlow@sandvik.com
Rep: Bill Marlow

Associate Members:

Barfett, Craig
Precision Service & Pumps
43684 Lougheed Hwy.,
Lake Errock, B. C. V0M 1N0
Ph: 604-897-4447
e.mail: siddle-creekservices@hotmail.com

Faase, Jack
Ground Source Drilling
2190 1st Ave. SE
Salmon Arm, B. C. V1E 1K1
Ph: 250-804-1104
e.mail: lori@groundsourcedrilling.com

Faase, Justin
Ground Source Drilling
915 Toovey Road
Kelowna, B. C. V1X 6R2
Ph: 250-869-2350
e.mail: jfaasse13@hotmail.com

Faasse, Philip
Ground Source Drilling
1327 Highland Dr. S.
Kelowna, B. C. V1Y 3V9
Ph: 250-826-7155
e.mail: len@groundsourcedrilling.com

Langlois, Terry
Columbia Shuswap Regional District
Box 978
Salmon Arm, B.C. V1E 4P1
Ph: 250-833-5941 Fax: 250-832-8165
e.mail: tlanglois@csrd.bc.ca

Ma, Carol
EBA Engineering Consultants Ltd.
Oceanic Plaza, 9th Floor
1066 W. Hastings Street
Vancouver, B. C. V6E 3X2
Ph: 604-685-0274 x 310
Fax: 604-684-6241

Martin, Tim
Precision Service & Pumps
3776 Sandy Hill Road
Abbotsford, B. C. V3G 1H9
Ph: 604-557-1285
e.mail: timmermartin@shaw.ca

Smith, Rodney H.
Smith Water Management Services Inc.
10371 Springwood Cr.
Richmond, B. C. V7E 1X5
Ph: 604-329-5928
e.mail: rod@smithwms.com

Young, Travis
Roto-Rooter Plumbers
c/o 817 Allsbrook Road
Parksville, B. C. V9P 2A9
Ph: 250-248-8743 Fax: 250-248-8414
e.mail: roto-rooter@shaw.ca

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Web Results

Our web results from January 29 – February 28 were 935 visits.

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Regional Meetings

B. C. Groundwater Association
Okanagan Regional Director’s Activity Report: 2009

Throughout the year, I continued to serve as the Association’s representative on the Okanagan Basin Water Board’s Water Stewardship Council (WSC), attending approximately eight of the ten scheduled monthly meetings (there is a two-month summer recess).

One project of the WSC was the creation of a groundwater bylaws toolkit. The original idea for the toolkit was to streamline and harmonize all the different local government bylaws pertaining to groundwater, including but not limited to the so-called “proof of water” requirements for subdivision and building permits. The project took that idea and expanded it to something much more ambitious, and included input from a large technical advisory committee and from a lawyer who writes bylaw language. The OBWB published the Groundwater Bylaws Toolkit in 2009 intended to enable local governments to incorporate groundwater protection into their land use planning policies and bylaws. This document can be found on the OBWB website. http://www.obwb.ca/groundwater_bylaws_toolkit/

Another ongoing effort of the Water Stewardship Council is to advise the Okanagan Basin Water Board on water management issues that affect the basin as a whole. These are a few of the initiatives or issues currently under review at the Stewardship Council and/or its subcommittees:

• Expansion of the provincial observation well network in the Okanagan Basin to include possibly up to 12 new wells; grant funding has been applied for to facilitate the participation of local governments and water suppliers with this initiative, which has the support of BC MoE regional staff in Penticton;
• Development of a formal submission to the province on the OBWB’s Recommendations for the Water Act Modernization project, which is part of the Living Water Smart strategy; and
• Consideration that the Okanagan Basin will serve as one of the “priority areas” to implement some form of groundwater licencing and integrated surface water and groundwater management.

Fall Workshop
The Association’s Okanagan regional fall workshop was held December 4 at the Penticton Lakeside Resort. In addition to the Regional Director, the current BCGWA President Remi Allard was in attendance and he helped lead the afternoon’s discussion on a range of topics including the new GWUDI guidelines, reports on other regional meetings, updates from the June 2009 BCGWA strategic workshop, and the Association’s letter to the Minister regarding (slow) progress on Phase 2 Regulation. As in prior years, regional staff from BC MoE were in attendance and provided the Ministry update.

It was once again a well-attended event, but there were considerably fewer attendees (about 20) this year than in the past two or three years, when the numbers were more like 45-50. While it’s difficult to speculate as to why attendance was down, my guess is south Okanagan workshop location was a factor in that Penticton is a fairly long drive from the northern part of our region. The process of planning the next workshop as well as a suitable location will be discussed with members at this year’s AGM.

In reflecting on my last three years serving as a regional director, I can say it continues to be a rewarding experience serving the members, using every opportunity I can to express our shared interest in protecting groundwater and raising awareness about the importance of the resource. In the years since Phase 1, we have learned there are limitations to the effectiveness of industry regulation and voluntary compliance. It now seems the province is moving in the direction of regulating the use and development of the groundwater resource itself, and will be looking at how this is done in other jurisdictions. The pending changes will no doubt present challenges and opportunities for the industry in the years to come.

Doug Geller
Vernon, B.C.
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Vancouver Island Regional Meeting

The Vancouver Island regional meeting was held at the Howard Johnson Harbourside Hotel in Nanaimo on Saturday December 12th, 2009, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. followed by an excellent buffet lunch. Total attendance was 19 people. A cross reference of people included members of MOE staff, drilling contractors, pump installers, hydrologists and engineers.

Topics of conversation were as follows:
- MOE, Pat Lapcevic, Jillian Kelly : The current and future statutes of the ground water regulations
- Association activities : Bruce Ingimundson, managing director
- Ministry of Healthy Living & Sport GWUDI guidelines
- Reports on other regional meetings
- Update on action items from June 2009 strategic planning work shop
- UBCM convention report
- 2010 Convention and Trade Show update
- CanWell 2014
- Review of Minister Barry Penners response letter
- BCGWA “40th” Convention March 15th to 19th, 2010

Other topics of interest with David Slade as follows:
- WCB premiums to increase
- Work Safe B.C. crane certification requirements
- Surface water extraction permits
- The requirement of continuing education units for drillers and pump installers

The meeting was relaxed and well attended with special thanks to Pat Lapcevic and Jillian Kelly from the MOE for taking time to speak on Saturday. Also, thank you to Joan Perry and Bruce Ingimundson for taking care of the finer details

Paul Anderson
Vancouver Island Director

Cranbrook Regional Meeting

The meeting in Cranbrook was held on December 17th, 2009. It was a very well attended meeting with 14 in attendance. The Ministry of Environment was unable to attend because of the huge snow storms in the area. It was suggested that maybe next year it should be held a little earlier in the year but Mike felt that the rise in attendance was due to the timing. Thank you Mike Bombardier for arranging this meeting.

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Sonic Driller Wanted..

Downrite Drilling Ltd. is accepting applications for an experienced Sonic Driller with a class 3 drivers license. We have acquired a brand new Compact Roto Sonic to introduce to the Geotech/Enviro/Geothermal market and are looking for a motivated self sufficient mechanically inclined individual with previous Sonic drilling experience and clear understanding of Sonic Drilling Technology. We are based in Chilliwack, B. C. with most of our work in the lower mainland. Please contact Bill Tuytel at, bill@downritedrilling.com or call 604-823-4086.

To Those Interested in B. C.’s water future

I would like to invite you to participate in a dialogue on Water Act Modernization. The Ministry of Environment is hosting regional multi-sector workshops around the Province during March and April 2010. These workshops are also being held in conjunction with 2010 drought response planning workshops. Details on how to register are provided in the attached invitation.

Your participation in the Water Act modernization process will help ensure we prepare modernized water legislation that will form the basis for more effective management of this essential resource in the future.

I also encourage you to look at our Blog, make comments and join the conversation.

I look forward to meeting you at an upcoming workshop in your area.

Yours truly,

John Slater
MLA Okanagan-Similkameen
Parliamentary Secretary for Water Supply and Allocation

www.livingwatersmart.ca

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CGWA Report

Although 2009 has been a year of challenge and small growth, most of our members continue to work along with the ups and downs of the economy, with some bright spots, including those contractors taking advantage of the surge in geothermal growth across the country.

Your board of directors has worked closely and diligently throughout the year and is constantly reviewing suggestions from membership. I recently traveled to Manitoba to meet with John Friesen to discuss many issues and some long-term goals as he sees them for our Association. John will be the president coming into office in May of 2010 at Winnipeg. He talked about the following goals as we move forward:
• to help the provinces attract new members through benefits provided by the Canadian association
• to provide a national leadership on stakeholder issues across Canada, including groundwater legislation
• to review long-range planning to identify industry trends and adjust to meet these trends
• to raise awareness of our industry’s accomplishments at home and across borders
• to strengthen our education and certification programs to all our active members and diversify our training and certification to include other related stakeholders
• to develop alliances with other associations who share our interests in the protection and management of Canada’s ground water aquifers

We continue to work with Quebec and BC on future CanWells.

The CGWA executive directors met in October in Nova Scotia and discussed agenda items which included:
• the acting structure of the association following the passing of our president, Francis Gale
• updates on our arbitration case with the Canadian GeoExchange Coalition
• the purchase of a Pump Installers Training Course for the CGWA
• national certification issues (old and new)
• interprovincial labour programs
• CGWA insurance programs
• First Nations programs and issues
• Ground Water Canada magazine (Chris Skalkos’ departure)
• CanWell 2010 update (Winnipeg)
• NGWA update (New Orleans)
• Dug Well Training Course (Atlantic Canada)
• certification committee-future meetings (Toronto 2010)
• future CanWell locations

That’s it for now from your Canadian office. If we may be of assistance contact Val or me at the Canadian office at your convenience. www.cgwa.org

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Wind Turbine Project – Grouse Mountain

When DLB Cranes was awarded the task of erecting the wind turbine on top of Grouse Mountain, 1,220 metres (4,000 feet) high, we knew that we had our work cut out for us. But we were eager for the challenge.

Our team devised a plan to provide the complete lifting solution for this project with safety at the forefront. The first step was getting our massive Liebherr LH 1280, a 300-ton hydraulic crawler crane up the sharp switchbacks and steep grades of the old Mountain Highway in North Vancouver, to the absolute peak of the mountain. This required the use of a Hayes HDX 100-ton truck and a 100-ton off-highway low-bed, as some of the loads were over 100,000 lbs. This meant extra ground clearance was needed for cresting the hills with the enormous crane components. All the loads were staged at the bear den near the peak, as the last portion of the road had the steepest grades.

To make this as safe as possible, the trucks had a D7 dozer pushing from the rear and a 30-ton rock truck pulling up front. The realization that we only had one chance at this hill was clear to everyone involved-any mistake would be catastrophic.

The mood quickly lightened once the last of the components neared the top. But now it was time to assemble the large crawler crane on the small pad that had been provided. Our Link-Belt ATC 3130, a 130-ton all terrain crane, with its sophisticated 8x10 drive system, was perfect for these extreme conditions.

The wind turbine tower’s 65-metre height (213 feet), required the long boom on the LR 1280. With a 191-ft. main boom and 85-ft. luffing jib, the crane’s capacity was 45 metric tons (99,600 lbs.) at a 40-ft radius, which made the 40 metric ton (88,000 lbs.) lift to place the generator feasible.

The first stage of the erection was the three tower sections, the heaviest weighing 52.6 tons (116,000 lbs). The 130-ton acted as the tail crane on these tandem lifts.

Stage two was hoisting the one-of-a-kind view POD, which was rigged and placed with expert precision.

After installing the nacelle machine carrier, it was time to put the big Liebherr to its ultimate test. With the main boom at 88 degrees, we placed the 40 ton (88,000 lb.) generator at its incredible 65-metre elevation.

The next few hours were spent assembling the giant blades on the rotor while the city watched live helicopter news feeds. The final lift to complete Vancouver’s newest landmark as a huge success!

By Ralf Notheis
Field Operations Manager, DLB Cranes Ltd.
IUOE News

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO VIEW/Download the MARCH 2010 Report from the Ministry of Environment