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 of an important update on Ground Water Protection Regulation (GWPR) from the BC Ministry of Environment. (updated Sept 17, 2007)

March 2007 Newsletter

President’s Address

Thank you to all for the kind wishes, or should I say condolences, regarding my taking over the helm from David Slade. Needless to say, it is impossible to improve upon his reflections about his term as our fearless leader, other than to consider where we were as an association a few years ago, as compared to where we are now. I think we all will agree that never before has our Association been so well-grounded. We have a dedicated and ever growing membership, an excellent relationship with the BC Ministry of Environment, a strong balance sheet and considerable positive momentum in everything we are involved in. This is in no small part the result of David’s efforts and the great support he has received from the Executive and Directors, as well as Gilles and of course Joan.

I sincerely hope we can maintain the momentum and I therefore encourage all of you to be active in your association by collaborating with your colleagues, continuing to learn, improving upon what you do and finally to represent the best interests of our Association and industry to the general public.

Personally, I consider my role as President to be more the role of a coordinator. I am committed to learning too, and I will listen and convey information plus ideas to everyone that I can - with enthusiasm.

For continued success, we need to balance the way we currently operate against any changes that our members think we need to implement to ensure we represent the interests of all. Our foundation and historical membership as an association has been the drillers and pump installers, but we are seeing increased membership from manufacturers/suppliers, hydrogeologists and government officials. I am hoping to see more involvement from water suppliers and other water-related organizations.

Working with your newly-elected executive, we are already addressing some pressing issues including providing feedback on the draft Phase II Groundwater Protection Regulation, working with the Province and Ag Canada on securing funding for continuing data input into the Water Wells Database and for ongoing driller’s training workshops, and finally reviewing the need for and job description for a new Managing Director to replace Gilles.

In closing, this is your Association. My term will come and go, and I can only hope that we continue to prosper and that day to day activities run smoothly – as they have in the past under David Slade’s direction. Finally, I share David’s sentiment of hope, specifically that the BC Groundwater Association is a valuable organization for you and your business and that you are proud to be a member.

Please feel free at any time to call or email me to discuss anything to do with groundwater and our Association.

Remi Allard
BCGWA President
PAST Presidents message:

Hello and Goodbye to all BCGWA members.

My 2 year term as president has come to an end, but I would like to write one last message before I retire to the back benches of the executive.

So this is a message of hope and thanks.

I hope that the new executive will continue to enjoy the amazing relationship that has developed between the BCGWA and Ministry of Environment, largely thanks to the work of Mike Wei.

I hope that Gilles Wendling, who is stepping down after 2 years as managing director, has great success with his Global Aquifer Development Foundation and its work in Mali, Africa, and with his private Ground Water consulting business, GW Solutions. Thanks Gilles for your great work, especially in organizing the conference speakers and schedules.

I hope that we as industry professionals can lead the way in helping the public to understand the Ground Water Protection Regulation, and the importance of protecting this vital resource. We must continue to teach and demonstrate the value of qualified workers, and quality work.

I hope that members of this association will provide feedback and suggestions in the ongoing efforts to engage existing members, and attract more membership from all sectors, and also to offer constructive ideas for our next conference in March 2009.

I hope that someone applies for the $2,000 of FREE MONEY in the Laurie Desilets Memorial Education fund.

I hope that Joan and Walter Perry enjoy many years of health and happiness after the many health related challenges they faced in 2007. I also hope that Joan will continue to find job satisfaction in her position as Secretary/Treasurer, and all around Anchor Woman of the BCGWA. Thanks Joan, you are amazing, and Walter and the BCGWA are lucky to have you.

I hope that contractors and consultants will make every effort to support the Manufacturers and Suppliers who continue to support our Association. Thank you all for attending in Kelowna.

Final thanks go to the members at large who allowed me to serve as President for the past 2 years, and to the executive and directors both past and present who supported me, and who have been willing to do their part to better this Association.

Good luck to Remi Allard, the New President of the BCGWA. I know that Remi is a clever and thoughtful man, and that he will lead us all to great new heights.

My final hope is that we as individuals, associations and governments of all levels, find a sustainable way to the future; a way that does not leave those who come after, with no hope of the lifestyles and opportunities that we have been so fortunate to enjoy.

David Slade

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Membership Changes

All of the changes and new members will be listed in the membership booklet, that will be coming out in May.

DRAFT OF
BEST PRACTICES FOR
GEOTECHNICAL BOREHOLES

1. When quoting or setting up a drilling job check with the client regarding the expected soil conditions and anticipated depth. This way the proper equipment and supplies can be brought to site on drilling day for borehole construction and closure.

2. Check out the site. Are borehole locations accessible? Look around; our clients usually don’t see it all from a driller’s perspective.

3. Safety meetings where required, check overhead hazards, also Utility check, Health and Safety issues etc. Make sure sites are clearly marked, drill on the marked sites.

4. The driller should discuss with clients’ representative on site the reasons for drilling and procedure expected. Find out what depth or resistance the client is expecting.

5. While drilling borehole for clients, keep in mind where hole depth or strata may change closing procedure from using Bentonite chips to requiring Grouting. This should be relayed to client and discussed. If a hole is all clay or silts with few sand lenses or layers, Bentonite can be placed fairly deep with filling the bottom 5 ft. of the auger and pushing this to the closure plug area and spinning the chips off then retrieving the stem and refilling the hole with cuttings, and then placing subsequent plugs in the same manner until hole is completed to regulation. Normally the upper part of the borehole remains open and can be closed with chips poured into the borehole.

Where sand and gravel layers are encountered, and sloughing is causing the hole to fill with granular materials, Bentonite cannot be pushed to depth. In these cases one can only go 20 ft into this layer and placing the first closure plug at the slough level. If the borehole must go deeper then grouting must be done at least for the lower closure plugs. This can be done by rotating AW rods, or similar, down the borehole with a triangle cutting head on it to turn through the granular slough and then placing Grout at the desired levels. Even then, the upper plug can usually be placed by pouring bentonite chips into the borehole.

If you have comments or suggestions about the above draft of best practices, please send your comments to David Slade via fax at 250-746-8404, or email to david@drillwell.com

Thank you for your input.

DRAFT OF
BEST PRACTICES FOR
WATER WELL CONSTRUCTION

Initial

- Written and signed quotes should always be obtained
- Site visit, and on site consultation are always recommended.
- Safety considerations, including communication and emergency procedures, and overhead electrical to be addressed.

Well Location

- Ensure minimum distance from septic and other sources of contamination.
- Locate well up gradient from contaminants if possible.
- Consider present AND FUTURE access issues i.e.: May require drill rig for future service or repair.

Surface Seal

- Use bentonite chips whenever possible. (highest solids, least shrinkage).
- Drill a hole that creates a large enough annulus to permit the introduction of the sealant, and ensure that the seal is minimum one inch thick. Drive shoe on surface casing can be used to create a larger annular space when casing is removed.
- Always try to use a surface casing/hole that is 4 inches or more larger than the final casing. i.e.: 10 inch hole drilled for surface seal for a 6 inch well.
- Center casing in hole before placing surface seal.

Well Completions

- In overburden, screened wells are preferable to “Open Bottom” wells in most cases.
- In bedrock wells, liners should always be installed in cases or areas where rock stability is questionable.
- Plastic well liners should always be materials approved for potable water usage.
- Casing should always be left at least 12 inches above ground, higher is better.
- Well MUST be left with a secure vermin proof, tamper resistant cap.

Development and Yield Testing

- 2 to 3 hours of developing and yield testing is advisable to maximize well efficiency, and to assure adequate flow rate.

If you have comments or suggestions on the Draft of Best Practices for Water Well
Construction please send them to David Slade via fax @ 250-746-8404, or email to david@drillwell.com

Thanks for your participation.

Membership Dues!

Just a friendly reminder to have your memberships dues paid up by April 30th!
If you have any changes or additions to your listing, please e.mail them or call the office.

Convention News!

Another very successful convention was held in Kelowna in early March. The workshops were well attended and there were 21 people who challenged the Drillers and Pump Installers CGWA exam. It is wonderful to see so many new, young, up and coming drillers and pump installers attending. A few years ago it looked like the “old guys” would be out in the field forever!

Thank you Gilles Wendling for putting together such an interesting and informative schedule. The line up of speakers was exceptional. This has contributed to the success of our event over the past few years.

This has been the second year that we have been successful in securing the McEllhiney Lecturer. This year F. Michael Krautkramer’s topic was “How Much is Enough? Making Decisions in the Water Well Industry”.

Keynote speaker, Maude Barlow, spoke on the sustainability of water. She is passionate about her cause and her latest book refers to the Global Water Crisis and the coming battle for the Right to Water.

The Trade Show area was buzzing with 29 booths and the M&S members seemed happy with the turnout. Now if they could only figure out how that magician made things “come and go”. The 2 rigs out front at the entrance of the parking lot certainly added to the look of a “well drillers” convention!

Meet your new executive:

President: Remi Allard
Vice President: Tim Oster
Secretary: Bruce Ingimundson
Treasurer: David Mellis

Directors:

Cariboo Peter Epp
Kootenay’s Mike Bombardier
Okanagan Doug Geller
Fraser Valley Jim Clark
Vancouver Island Paul Anderson
M&S Rep Sheridan Gaudet
Prof & Tech Scott Schillereff
CGWA Jim Fyfe

Past President David Slade
GeoTechnical/Env Bill Tuytel
Well Drillers Doug Unrau
Pump Installers Mike Lamont

M&S Trade Show Booths

Andrew Sheret Limited
Atlas Manufacturing Ltd.
Cantest Ltd
CanWell 2008
Corix Water Products
Delta Irrigation Ltd.
Extreme Products Inc/Rice Engineering
Flexcon Industries
Foremost Industries LP
General Farm Supply Inc.
Ingram Well & Pump
Kidde Canada Inc.
Langley Welding & Machine Shop Ltd.
Marwyn Sales & Supplies Ltd.
Ministry of Environment
Pacific Bit of Canada Inc.
Pinnacle Drilling Products Inc.
Polymer Pacific Trading
RST Instruments Ltd.
Sandvik Mining & Construction
Sego Industries Ltd.
SNC Lavalin Environment
Sperian Protection
Tundra Sales Inc.
Van Isle Water Services Ltd.
Variperm Canada Ltd.
Westcoast Drilling Supplies
Western Drilling Tools Inc.
WILO Canada Inc.

We would like to thank these Companies
who supported our Convention!

Our Sponsors

Thank you for your sponsorship donations! You helped to make our convention the success that it was.

Atlas Manufacturing Ltd.
Cariboo Water Wells Ltd.
Clark Drilling Services Ltd.
Downrite Drilling Ltd.
Extreme Products Inc.
Foremost Industries LP
General Farm Supply Inc.
Golder Associates Ltd.
Mayfair Gas & Plumbing
Moore’s Well & Pump Service Ltd.
North American Pipe & Steel Ltd.
Pinnacle Drilling Products Inc.
Variperm Canada Ltd.
Westcoast Drilling Supplies
Western Drilling Tools Inc.

Upcoming Events

Don’t forget to register for:

CanWell 2008
May 14-17, 2008
Shaw Conference Centre
Edmonton, Alberta
Contact: 780-386-2335
e.mail: awwda@xplornet.com

Saskatchewan Ground Water Association –AGM April 4-5, 2008
Contact 306-384-8844

OGWA Convention & Trade Show
May 29-31, 2008 Contact 519-245-7194

Water Supply Association of BC
Spring Workshop – April 3-4, 2008
Coast Capri Hotel in Kelowna
Contact Cheryl Halla at 250-809-8548

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Hazardous Waste Management in BC

In an effort to improve regulatory compliance and general awareness of the legal and technical conditions for the safe management of hazardous wastes, the BC Environment Industry Association (BCEIA), with support from Ministry of Environment, has launched a new information portal dedicated to the responsible management of hazardous wastes in BC (www.hazwastebc.com).

Hazwastebc.com is a valuable source of information and a major component of BCEIA’s Hazardous Waste Compliance Improvement Project.

The site contains a collection of sector-specific Fact Sheets, downloadable application forms, essential contact information and important source links for those Members involved in the generation, transport, regulation, licensing and processing of hazardous waste materials in British Columbia.

Members responsible for hazardous waste compliance are encouraged to visit www.hazwastebc.com. Comments, suggestions and submissions for the website are most welcome.

The Hazardous Waste Compliance Improvement Project will continue with a series of Workshops and Roundtable discussions throughout the province. BCEIA would be pleased to work with our association to develop and conduct such a half day workshop to help answer questions on waste generation characterization and tracking, how to select a receiver/processor transporter, and any other hazardous waste topic of interest to our members.

BC Environmental Association
c/o Globe Foundation of Canada

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Thank you Grundfos Canada Inc.

On behalf of the British Columbia GRUNDFOS Distributors, Dealers and Sales Associates, we would like to thank GRUNDFOS Pumps Corporation for their gracious invitation to visit Denmark and for their generous hospitality while there. GRUNDFOS, truly a world class company.

Pictured with Rod Parker the BC Representative of Grundfos Pumps Corporation are their BC Distributors, Dealers and Sales Associates who were invited to be GRUNDFOS Pumps Corporation guests and visit with them in their home country of Denmark this February 2008. While in Denmark the group had a chance to visit some of the history of the GRUNDFOS Pump Corporation at their private worldwide museum in Silkeborg, Denmark.

The visiting BC group were kept busy touring a number of Grundfos manufacturing facilities throughout the Silkeborg area during their five day stay. Along with the business side of the visit, the BC group was exposed to some fantastic local tourist attractions, one of which was Randers Rainforest. Along with the visual and cultural attractions, the group were treated to a generous sampling of the world renowned Danish hospitality in all the places they visited including Viborg, Frisholt and Copenhagen to name just a few.

Photo Names: - Left to right: Rod parker (Grundfos Representative), Stewart McCormick, Shane Black, Robin Johnson, Dan Nadeau, Blaine Matuga, Mel Johnson, Ron Seigal, Michael Lamont, Ron Gehrang.

WCB link – Cranes and Hoists

This link was sent in by Trina Koch, Ministry of Environment. This site provides information to those that work with cranes and hoists.

http://www2.worksafebc.com/Safety/ProposedAmendments.asp

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Golf

Golf can best be defined as an endless series of tragedies obscured by the occasional miracle, followed by a good bottle of beer.

Golf! You hit down to make the ball go up. You swing left and the ball goes right. The lowest score wins. And of top of that, the winner buys the drinks.

Golf is harder than baseball. In golf, you have to play your foul balls.

Golfers who try to make everything perfect before taking the shot rarely make a perfect shot.

The term “mulligan” is really a contraction of the phrase “maul it again.”

A “gimme” can best be defined as an agreement between two golfers…neither of whom can putt very well.

An interesting thing about golf is that no matter how badly you play; it is always possible to get worse.

Golf’s a hard game to figure. One day you’ll go out and slice it and shank it, hit into all the traps and miss every green. The next day you go out and for no reason at all, you really stink.

If your best shots are the practice swing and the “gimme putt”, you might wish to reconsider this game.

Golf is the only sport where the most feared opponent is you.

Golf is like marriage: If you take yourself too seriously it won’t work, and both are expensive.

The best wood in most amateurs’ bags is the pencil.

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Drinking Water may be scarce for a third of planet by 2025

A world without fresh water would be a world bereft of humans, and yet one in five people lacks regular access to this most basic of life-sustaining substances.

By 2025, fully one-third of the planet’s growing population could find itself scavenging for safe drinking water, the United Nations has warned ahead of World Water Day that was on Saturday, March 22.

More than two million people in developing countries-the vast majority children-die every year from diseases associated with unsanitary water.

There are a number of interlocking causes for this scourge.

Global economic growth, population pressures and the rise of mega-cities have all driven water use to record levels.

Mexico City, Jakarta and Bangkok, to name a few, have underground water sources-some of them nonrenewable-depleting at alarming rates.

In Beijing, home to 16 million, aquifers have fallen by more than a dozen metres in 30 years, forcing the government to earmark tens of billions of dollars for a scheme to ferry water from the
Yangtze River in the south to the country’s parched north.

Aggravating the shortages are pathogen and chemical pollution, which have transformed many primary sources of water in the developing world into toxic repositories of disease.

Desperation forces people to consume these contaminated waters.

“In the coming decades, water scarcity may be a watchword that prompts action ranging from wholesale population migration to war, unless new ways to supply clean water are found,” a team of researchers comment in a review of water purification technology published in the British journal “Nature.”

But even as scientists and governments look for ways to satisfy a thirsty world, another threat looms on the horizon: global warming.

Rising sea levels are already forcing salt water into aquifers beneath mega deltas that are home to tens of millions, and changing weather patterns are set to intensify droughts in large swathes of Africa, southern Europe and Asia, according to UN’s Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC).

Experts and policy makers point to three broad categories of initiatives to ease the shortage of clean, drinkable water, especially in the world’s poorest regions: sanitation, purification, and water management.

“Poor sanitation combines with a lack of safe drinking water and inadequate hygiene to contribute to the terrible global death toll,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said earlier this month.

“Every 20 seconds, a child dies as a result of the abysmal sanitation conditions endured by some 2.6 billion people globally,” he said in launching
the International Year of Sanitation. Less than half the households in major Asian cities are connected to sewers, which means that tones of raw sewage runs into rivers and oceans, according to the UN. In Latin America and Africa that figure drops to 40 and 20 per cent, respectively.

While governments attempt to improve sanitation infrastructure, scientists are developing new technology to purify the water available, said Mark Shannon, a professor at the University of Illinois and Director of the US government funded Center of Advanced Materials for the Purification of Water with Systems.

“Desalination with reverse osmosis is already the largest single growth area in terms of new water supplies,” he told AFP in an interview.

New techniques of reverse osmosis use membranes with nanometer-size pores to filter out salt and other contaminants from water, and could for the first time pave the way for industrial-scale use.

Micro-filters are also used to decontaminate bodies of water increasingly laced with pesticides, arsenic, heavy metals, nitrates and pharmaceutical derivatives.

Current methods of decontamination, however, remain “challenging, expensive and unreliable,” and will take years to perfect, Shannon said.

A third method of purification-and the one most relevant to the poor nations-is removing or killing bacteria, viruses and other pathogens through disinfection.

“Pathogens are still the biggest problem in the world today in terms of safe water,” Shannon said.

The Vancouver Sun, March 20, 2008

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We’d like to take this opportunity to let you know some of what we did this fiscal year (April, 2007 to end of March 2008), and also of the Ground Water Protection Regulation (GWPR) compliance project we have planned for next year.

GWPR

* Water Stewardship Division executive finalized the policies for Phase 2 of the GWPR.
* The Ministry of Environment (Ministry) is currently completing public and stakeholder consultation on Phase 2, including consulting with the British Columbia Ground Water Association (BCGWA) at the Convention in Kelowna in early March.
* In 2007/08 Water Stewardship Division staff inspected well drilling at 11 sites, completed 19 on-site inspections of wells, and made 27 public presentations to community and government agency groups about the GWPR.
* The Ministry worked with the Ministry of Community Services to develop model by-laws for well closures for local government. When local government receives provincial a grant for extending water services to rural areas, a condition of the grant is for local government to adopt a by-law to ensure residents disconnect their private wells and close them if those private wells are no longer going to be used. The model by-law was developed for local government to adopt, when needed.

Well Construction Audit for 2008/09

Water Stewardship Division (WSD) is embarking on a province-wide well construction audit starting in April, 2008. WSD staff would like to go out to newly drilled water supply wells (with the permission of qualified well pump installers) during pump installation to check for compliance with surface seal, stick-up, grading, well identification and well cap requirements. WSD plans to inspect up to 50 new water supply wells. WSD’s objectives of the project are to quantify the level of compliance with well construction requirements and increase the Ministry’s field presence. Qualified Well Drillers will be provided with a copy of the well inspection record as feedback. A summary of the audit findings will be publicised however, site specific or contractor specific information will not be released.

Well Records

• ~ 1500 well construction reports have been received and processed since September 2007. Many of these wells still need to be located, however.

• ~ 1,160 backlog well construction reports have been processed since December, 2007 – these wells have been located.

• Both entry of new well construction reports into the WELLS database and locating of wells in the backlog were possible through funding from Agriculture Canada and in partnership with the BCGWA.

Groundwater Assessment Projects

Water Stewardship Division staff also worked on a number of groundwater assessment projects, for example:

• Survey of arsenic survey in well water on Vancouver Island and in Northern BC,

• DRASTIC vulnerability mapping project on Vancouver Island,

• Well ID plating of First nations community drinking water wells (with Health Canada)

• North and Central Okanagan groundwater studies (with GSC, SFU, UBCO)

Brochures

Two new brochures have been completed and are available for distribution:

* Water Well Disinfection – Using the Simple Chlorination Method http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/wsd/plan_protect_sustain/groundwater/wells/factsheets/PFRA_simple_chlorification.pdf

* Finding a Septic Tank http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/wsd/plan_protect_sustain/groundwater/septic_tank.pdf

If you would like copies of these brochures, please contact your local groundwater protection officer.