Articles by Holly Case

When drillers decide to give back to the community, it makes sense that improving access to safe water would be a cause they would support. If you read about Michael Campana’s talk at the National Ground Water Association 2013 Groundwater Expo about “hydrophilanthropy” efforts to bring water to Central America, then you know that drillers are well aware of the worldwide need for safe drinking water supplies. Not only that, they want to make a difference.

 Sue Luft knows first-hand about the problems that occur when a community’s well demands for water far exceed the amount of available water. The Paso Robles, Calif. vineyard owner has faced water shortages due to acutely stressed wells in her area and it has seriously impacted her livelihood. 

Chris Preston at Xylem has an official job title of Product Manager, but what he’s really good at is problem solving. As one of the speakers at this year’s National Ground Water Association Groundwater Expo in Nashville, he will be sharing his knowledge about troubleshooting submersible and jet pumps.

 You can’t trademark natural resources, but ownership of them is increasingly becoming an issue as those resources become scarce. In fact, the question of ownership over water rights has become a knock-down fight. Water shortages have been an issue in the western states in the U.S. for well over 100 years and officials could foresee even back then that water was limited.  

 If you don’t have good water, it doesn’t matter what other resources you have. Securing a good public water supply is one of the most basic but most important concerns for any town. Like many municipalities, Baton Rouge, La., has found its water supply stressed to its limits by population growth and city expansion.  

The Port of Miami has been a problem since the Reagan administration, causing traffic snarls and wasted time. Nearly 16,000 vehicles—almost 5,000 of which are semi trucks—travel to and from the port each day.  

 Hydraulic fracking has a bad reputation with some environmentalists, who think that the heavy water usage involved in fracking projects is too destructive to the environment. But one preventable environmental concern relates to excavating permanent water storage basins. Drillers can find ways to store the water they need without as much environmental disruption.