Dave Singleton, president of Layne Christensen Co.’s Water Resource Division, will describe the dramatic drilling operation that rescued 33 trapped Chilean miners last year, as part of the opening general session of the American Water Works Association’s (AWWA) Annual Conference and Exposition (ACE11) in Washington, D.C. The session also will feature a presentation from Yoshihiko Misono, executive director of the Japan Water Works Association, on the earthquake and tsunami recovery efforts in Japan.

Singleton, who organized the rescue from Layne Christensen’s Western Region offices, will relay how Layne Christensen Co. repurposed a Schramm T130 tophead drill to create a 26-inch-diameter hole through which the miners emerged. The scheme – known worldwide as “Plan B” – cut two months off the best estimates for a rescue, and safely reunited all the miners with their families.

Layne Christensen, an AWWA member organization since 1975, was founded in 1882 as a water-well drilling company in the Badlands of South Dakota. Headquartered in Mission Woods, Kan., a Kansas City suburb, the Nasdaq-traded company operates worldwide, providing products and services for the water, mineral, construction and energy markets.

In addition to several other keynote presentations, ACE11 features seven in-depth, interactive workshops and more than 100 professional sessions comprising more than 550 presentations.

Attendees will have the opportunity to earn continuing education units (CEUs) for the distribution and plant operations, engineering and construction, manufacturers and associates, reuse, small systems, and water quality tracks, and Sunday workshops.

To learn more, or to register, visit the AWWA Web site at www.awwa.org/ACE11.