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Economic good, public good, human right or something else? 14 NEW
TECH ROUNDUP
Introducing new devices for water quality and quantity measurement from Canada and beyond
20
GROUND WATER
CENTRAL Highlights from the Canadian Ground Water Conference & Expo 2016
ON THE WEB:
Water service back online for rural customers near Prince Albert, Sask. Regular water services continue to be restored for communities affected by a Husky Energy oil spill in mid-July that prompted declaration of a state of emergency. CBC News reports.
Toronto experiment could solve decades-old space water question How does water behave in space? That question is the focus of an experiment launched by rocket to the International Space Station, where astronauts unbundled a camera and a sealed jar of water sent their way by a Toronto researcher. The National Post reports.
A rural voice
Being a rural Canadian can sometimes feel a bit like being a second-class citizen.
Since industrialization, there has been an opposition between city and country most memorably illustrated in Aesop’s fable “The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse.”
by Colleen Cross
This country was built on the backs of rural residents. However, rural Canadians have undergone a reversal of fortune since government began keeping population records: In 1851, 87 per cent of Canadians lived outside of cities and towns. Around the time of the First World War, urban and rural populations were balanced. But by 2011, the year for which the latest numbers are available, that ratio had flipped, with a mere 19 per cent of Canadians living in rural settings.
The city mice now have a louder voice, and with so many decisions made in cities by those who know only urban life, we country mice may feel our voice is little more than a squeak at times.
As well drillers and pump installers, you already advocate on behalf of rural residents daily.
We’ve all seen stories in the news with David-andGoliath overtones: Jessica Ernst struggling with oil company Encana’s fracking activities in Alberta, rural communities fighting the dumping of city garbage in their landfills, concerned people opposing what they see as excessive development on environmentally sensitive land.
Far too often, we hear of First Nations communities that have slipped under the radar and suffer from a lack of clean drinking water. As a recent Human Rights Watch report says, “The water supplied to many First Nations communities on . . . reserves is contaminated, hard to access, or at risk due to faulty treatment systems. The government regulates water quality for off-reserve communities, but has no binding regulations for water on First Nations reserves.”
As the federal government spends serious money to help rural folks get connected to highspeed Internet, there’s no doubt rural Canadians need a voice.
For your consideration we present a David-andGoliath news story that, if not assured of a happy ending, at least has created awareness among the public and got the attention of the Ontario government. Craig Stainton and the Ontario Ground Water Association have been fighting the good fight with citizens’ activist group Water Wells First in Chatham-Kent to get the Ontario government to recognize and mitigate the risk vibrations from wind turbine construction and operation pose to water wells. The residents want to prevent a recently approved wind turbine project from rendering local well water not fit to wash in, let alone drink.
Read the story on page 8 to learn more about this very real issue and to see what can be done when you don’t hesitate to voice concerns and when you have both science and common sense on your side.
As well drillers and pump installers, you already advocate on behalf of rural residents daily. For this we applaud you and encourage you to continue being a strong voice for rural Canadians.
There are some relatively simple ways to do this. With fewer people buying rural properties and putting in or maintaining water wells these days, it’s more important than ever you provide them with the support and information they need. Train all of your staff to inspire confidence in rural homeowners by answering their questions with authority.
Make sure everyone from your most senior driller down to your newest hire can clearly communicate a well owner’s responsibilities. Arm them with fact sheets and contact numbers for others who have worked or will work on the well (see Jim Clark’s “Life of a Water Well” document in our Summer issue).
By treating all customers like first-class citizens, with professionalism, respect and patience, you will become a trusted voice in your community – the one they listen to for advice and turn to for service.
INDUSTRY NEWS
About 150 people descended on the offices of Lackner McLennan Insurance in Waterloo, Ont., on July 27 to help the company celebrate its 70th anniversary.
PHOTO BY ED COSMAN
LACKNER MCLENNAN CELEBRATES 70 YEARS IN BUSINESS
About 150 people descended on the offices of Lackner McLennan Insurance in Waterloo, Ont., on July 27 to help the company mark its 70th year in business. A large tent was set up in the parking lot complete with a three-piece band to entertain clients and business associates. Tours of the office space were given by staff and owners.
The company moved to its current location in the spring of 2010. In early August, it purchased local insurer Erb and Erb, a move that will more than double its staff.
Lackner McLennan has been providing insurance for the ground water and other industries for many years. Partner Stephen Bleizeffer said the company has served the ground water industry since 1992, when it took on work for McLaughlin Water Wells & Supply.
“Since then we’ve been steadily learning,” Bleizeffer said. “It’s a great industry – no question about it.”
CANADIAN RESEARCHERS INNOVATE ON WATER TESTING
Naga Siva Gunda, president and chief technology officer of Glacierclean, performs a test using a York University-designed Mobile Water Kit at one of the field locations in Delhi, India.
Professor Sushanta Mitra, of York University’s Lassonde School of Engineering, has developed a hydrogel-based rapid E. coli detection system that will turn red when E. coli is present.
The device is an improved version of the team’s earlier Mobile Water Kit.
“The new technology has cut down the time taken to detect E. coli from a few days to just a couple of hours,” the university said in a news release on its website. “It is also an inexpensive way to test drinking water (C$3 per test estimated), which is a boon for many developing countries, as much as it is for remote areas of Canada’s North.”
“The results of the water test can be instantly broadcast using a mobile app already developed by the team,” the university said.
Professor Michael Serpe of the University of Alberta’s chemistry department is using nanotechnology to detect E. colI bacteria in rural water sources.
Serpe and his team are working on handheld diagnostic technology that can be used in rural areas that have no access to testing and treatment, according to a news release on the University of Alberta website. Serpe is establishing his field research in Poshina, a remote village in India, and plans to work with rural First Nations communities in Canada to implement water sensor technologies.
“If you can pick out bacteria from a sample and detect them without sample pre-treatment or purification, that’s like the Holy Grail,” the researcher said in the release.
CANADA VIOLATES HUMAN RIGHT TO SAFE WATER, SAYS WATCHDOG REPORT
Water supplied to many First Nations communities in Canada is contaminated, hard to access or at risk due to faulty treatment systems, says a new report by Human Rights Watch, an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights.
The 92-page report urges action by federal and provincial governments to take urgent steps, including greater regulation and investment, “to address their role in this crisis.”
The report covers water and sanitation conditions on reserves, the impact of poor water and sanitation conditions, barriers to safe drinking water and sanitation, and international legal obligations.
The report says, “The capital costs for water and wastewater infrastructure can be quite high, and the federal government is not able to pay for this over time. Instead, Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada makes major capital allocations for systems in lump sums. . . . [and] there is a substantial list of First Nations waiting for capital infrastructure investments.”
PHOTO COURTESY YORK UNIVERSITY
INDUSTRY NEWS
WATER WELLS FIRST GROUP, OGWA CONCERNED ABOUT WIND FARM VIBRATIONS’ IMPACT ON WATER WELLS
A protest group of residents in the Municipality of Chatham-Kent in southwestern Ontario launched a media campaign June 29 to draw attention to the damage it says wind turbine vibrations can cause to nearby water wells.
The group says the pile driving of foundations during construction and operation of a local wind turbine project in Dover Township within Chatham-Kent resulted in dirty, turbid water in about 20 nearby wells.
The Ontario Ground Water Association (OGWA) became aware of increased water quality issues in the region when inquiries intensified from Chatham-Kent and Lambton County residents for well water testing through the OGWA’s Well Wise water testing program. The OGWA said in a news release it is “fully supportive of the Chatham-Kent residents in efforts.”
“Existing wind farm developments in this area are disregarding known science on vibration and seismic coupling, causing adverse effects on local ground water and drinking water wells,” the OGWA said. “The pile driving of foundations began the onset of water quality deterioration during the construction phase. After the windmills are in service, the vibrations transfer into the concrete foundations and continue to vibrate the rock and soil formations of the surrounding areas. This activity directly affects the sources of the residents’ water wells. The result is dirty, turbid water. These residents are also rightly concerned about what effects this vibration has in an area known to have elevated levels of radon gas.”
“Water Wells First is a call to action from the affected residents of Chatham-Kent to have the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MOECC), the provincial government and the wind
By Colleen Cross
industry recognize these adverse effects,” the OGWA said. “The goal of the appeal is to prohibit pile-driven foundations in this area, to demand vibration suppression and to require assessment of seismic coupling on any wind developments.”
After taking its concerns to the media, the group, with the help of the OGWA, staged protests to underline its dissatisfaction with the ministry’s response to the initial reports of the problem.
“Water Wells First believes it has been successful to the point that the MOECC has acknowledged in the renewable energy approval (REA) that ground-borne vibrations and ground water aquifers have the potential to be negatively impacted by the wind farm and can pose a risk to nearby water wells,” group spokesperson Kevin Jakoubec said in news release.
In the REA permit for North Kent Wind 1, a wind turbine project approved for Chatham-Kent, the MOECC has had conditions applied that appear to require the developer to put in place ground water monitoring and ground-borne vibration monitoring.
The group expressed fears the requirements as written have little binding effect and no accountability to well owners potentially affected. “North Kent Wind 1 and the MOECC seem out of touch with ground water conditions and the realities of life on the farm in Chatham Kent,” said Jakoubec, a well owner himself in ChathamKent.
The issue came to light nearly three years ago when local well driller Ken Wade shared with Jakoubec and the OGWA reports he was getting from well owners of turbid, dirty water well after the wind turbines went up.
Wade describes what he saw as “fine, black sand – black wells.” He
said he has seen such water before when Ontario, New York State and other surrounding areas get earthquakes.
“When the I-beams vibrate, it gets the sand moving. It doesn’t take much,” he said.
It’s not a matter of fixing the well, he added. “The continuous vibrations cause more sand to be drawn through suction to the well and destabilize it again. You’d have to get vibration suppression technology.”
The dirty water isn’t necessarily affecting the homes closest to the turbines, Wade said. “A relative of mine within 1,500 feet of a turbine has no problems, but a guy threequarters of a mile down the road from one has bad problems,” he said. “Every well is different. It’s a gamble every time.”
Last August, an elderly lady noticed sand sediment in the bottom her bathtub, and that’s when Jakoubec got involved.
He wondered why she got sand coming in some three years later.
After doing some research, Jakoubec discovered a phenomenon called seismic coupling. “It’s been well documented in scientific literature that a wind turbine can shed ground water vibrations into the local ground during operation,” he said.
His research led him to MarkPaul Buckingham at Xi Engineering in Edinburgh, Scotland. Buckingham described seismic coupling as a frequency problem. “The wind turbine generates low frequency and low frequency travels farther than high frequency,” Jakoubec said. “This fits into a pattern reported anecdotally in Dover Township. It wasn’t the people with water wells close by who were having a problem. It was the people a mile, two miles, three miles away who were having problems.”
“There are two types of vibration impacts – one on humans and one on structures – and there are many international vibration standards that speak to that,” he said.
“One farmer is getting what Ken Wade calls black pepper sand,” he said. “Another is getting a very fine, talcum-like black powder that looks to be colloidal – a colloid is a clay mineral particle with unique features – in nature.”
Jakoubec wonders if this is glacial till, a sediment recognized as present in the area by a USGS 2013 study.
When the natural frequency of the sediment matches that of the coupling that shed it, you get resonance, he said. “There is a shaking. That will move toward the water and toward the well.”
With pile driving, the mechanisms are vibration and de-settling, principles well known in the piledriving industry, Jakoubec said, citing a 2014 study.
The pilings are penetrating 50 to 70 feet, through topsoil, blue clay and other sediments to shallow overburden, he said.
Jakoubec said the group asked the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change in Ontario to do an investigation into seismic coupling in Dover last year when he first heard from Wade about the issues. He spoke with them July 6. “To my knowledge – and after checking back with the farmers who made the official complaint – there still has not been any analysis of that sediment.”
It affects more than 20 wells in Dover and has the potential to affect many more in Chatham-Kent, he said.
“This should be a concern for everyone,” he said. With wind developments approved for North Kent and about to be approved for Otter Creek near Wallaceburg in the same municipality, he said, the
issues are provincial in reach.
He believes the Renewable Energy Approval from the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change to the North Kent Wind 1 Project, dated June 29, represents the first recognition that vibration caused by wind turbine installation and operation may cause problems.
Sections G and H address ground water monitoring and ground-borne vibration monitoring. Jakoubec draws attention to Section G6 (1), which requires that the company “immediately provide an adequate quantity of bottled water to the impacted party until such time that the issue has been resolved.”
In response to this condition, Ontario Ground Water Association executive director Craig Stainton asked CBC’s Drive Time radio show, “How many bottles will it take to supply 20,000 chickens?”
Jakoubec, who has a hybrid wind turbine of his own, said the group is not against wind farm development or other forms of what’s he calls clean energy.
“Protection of the ground water is our best response to climate change. The priority should be on ground water and not on energy.”
In what he calls “a dark irony” the notion of a bottled water solution undermines the principle of clean energy.“We are a protest group and there are high stakes involved because this is our home,” he said.
“Raise your voice,” is his advice to water well drillers. “If you see evidence of an issue,” report it to the OGWA. “We really thank Craig Stainton for stepping forward and getting this out to the public,” he said. “Craig has been instrumental in helping protect our water wells,” Jakoubec said.
“It’s green gone wrong,” he said. “This is avoidable. We should be learning from Europe’s lessons,” he said.
GROUND WATER LIKELY CORROSIVE IN HALF OF U.S. STATES, USGS STUDY SAYS
A new U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) assessment of more than 20,000 wells shows that untreated ground water in 25 states has a high prevalence of being potentially corrosive.
The states with the largest percentage of wells with potentially corrosive ground water are located primarily in the Northeast, the Southeast, and the Northwest, the USGS said in a news release.
This report is unrelated to the drinking water problems experienced in Flint, Michigan, the release said. The problems in Flint were related to treated surface water from the Flint River, whereas this report focuses on untreated ground water in all parts of the U.S.
Two indicators of potential corrosivity were combined to determine that corrosive ground water occurs in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Corrosive ground water, if untreated, can dissolve lead and other metals from pipes and plumbing fixtures, the assessment said.
The organization listed potential sources of lead in homes: lead pipes or fittings used in homes built prior to 1930, lead solder used in copper fittings in homes built prior to the late 1980s, “lead-free” brass components, which, in all states, except California, may have contained up to eight per cent lead prior to 2014, and galvanized steel that contained 0.5 to 1.4 per cent lead prior to 2014.
WATER TAKING
THE VALUE OF WATER
Economic good, public good or something else?
While British Columbia’s ground water industry was celebrating the new Water Sustainability Act, the announcement in March 2015 of proposed water rental rates – in force as of Feb. 29, 2016 – got members of the public hot under the collar.
by COLLEEN CROSS
LEFT: “People agree there must be a balance reached between environmental concerns and human use, but they have different ideas about where on the spectrum that balance lies,” says George Somers, the province’s manager of drinking and waste water.
Many Canadians took issue with the relatively low rates of $2.25 per million litres for industrial users B.C. was proposing on water taking compared to that of other provinces such as Nova Scotia, which charges $140 per million litres for some purposes. The issue grabbed headlines, more than 230,000 people signed a petition by activist group SumOfUs.org, and the B.C. government promised to review the rate structure.
This high public interest in water’s value raises questions the water well industry should consider as stewards and educators: What does water mean to us? Is it a commodity, a resource, a human right? What are the implications of assigning a price to it?
“Water becomes a commodity when someone takes it,” Ontario Environmental Commissioner
Dianne Saxe suggests. “It’s not a commodity when it’s in the ground or the river or the clouds, but once it’s in a bottle or a tank or a pipe, it is a commodity: People buy and sell it. People use it for their livelihoods.”
When someone takes a common resource such as water, which is shared, and converts it to their own control and use, should they pay for it? “I think they should,” Saxe says.
Emma Lui, a water campaigner for the Council of Canadians, emphasizes that the right to water is a human right as enshrined by the United Nations in 2010. Lui, whose background is in human rights and political economy, was lead author on a paper published in February identifying gaps and deficiencies in the new B.C. legislation.
“Surface and ground water should be declared
a public trust, which will require the government to protect water for a community’s reasonable use,” Lui argues. “Under a public trust doctrine, private water use would be subservient to the public interest. Water could not be appropriated or subordinated for private gain.
“If you recognize the human right to water, then where does pricing fall into that?” she asks. “People often look at water pricing as a way to manage water. The thinking behind that is if you price it accurately enough or well enough, the water will be protected. People aren’t going to waste it because they know the value of it.”
Deborah Curran, Hakai Professor in Environmental Law and Sustainability at the University of Victoria, suggests assigning a price to water, in the context of the new B.C. legislation, does not make it a commodity.
“When we assign a price to water it’s not to pay for the water itself. It’s not a commodity. It’s to pay for the administration or the management of that water,” Curran says. “Now that ground water will be brought into our water licensing system, there will be, for nondomestic uses, a cost for using that water. The province asserts ownership over the water, so they manage it in a variety of different ways and there is a cost to that, which is what both the new ground water fees and the existing surface water licence fees intend to cover.”
FEES FUND ADMINISTRATION
Assigning a value to water may help pay the costs of administration and improvement, promote conservation and encourage responsible use, Saxe says.
Saxe’s department is busy following through with its November 2015 report that takes the ministry of environment to task for not honouring its commitment to recover enough funds to administer oversight of water quantity. But she says the ministry should go beyond that and charge enough to do more than just manage water quantity.
“In Ontario, we do require watertaking permits, but there isn’t enough monitoring. The ministry will say to someone, for example, that they can’t take more than 10 per cent of the water out
of a stream, but they don’t require them to monitor the stream. We have a lot of examples of good intentions not turning into reality because there isn’t enough attention and importance being given to the water. . . . If you had the pricing, there would be enough money, for example, to pay for stream gauges and inspections, and the kind of oversight and enforcement that we need to actually protect the water on which all life depends.”
Curran believes addressing the knowledge deficit and the amount of energy required to improve our understanding of hydrology and water use will cost a significant amount of money. “The new fees will not cover our new regulatory scheme for ground water, which includes hiring staff to provide ground water oversight and go out and assess who gets a licence where and for how much. . . . I think we could withstand a whole lot higher water rents.”
PRICE SUGGESTS OWNERSHIP
While it’s clear that water fees, or rental rates, can help fund upkeep of water systems, putting a price on our water potentially opens the door to exploitation that results in damage to water, with environmental and social consequences, Saxe says. “If we allow people to take too much water, we end up with environmental damage. We see that in many places in Ontario.”
Lui says putting a price on water may send a misguided message of ownership. “When people pay a price for water they feel they can do what they want with it,” she says. “The concern is with industries that are allowed to draw water. We really should be asking the question of whether they should be.
“The rationale is that fees will be used to fund the implementation of the Water Sustainability Act,” Lui says, suggesting that might not be the best way to fund implementation of a piece of legislation that’s supposed to protect water. If you depend on fees to essentially protect water but you’re only going to get the fees if people use water, then that raises concerns about water conservation for current and future generations.”
“Water rents are charged on a perunit basis, so the higher the price, the greater the incentive would be to use less,” Curran says. “The question is for
which industries does pricing provide an incentive or a disincentive for doing certain things with water. Right now there is virtually no incentive for any industry, except maybe agriculture, to use less water because it is such a low cost of doing business.”
Lui agrees. “Even if it were $1,000 per million litres, I don’t know that that’s a high enough rate to make companies stop what they’re doing or conserve water,” she says.
Some, including the Council of Canadians, say water wasn’t dealt with in the North American Free Trade Act and is presumed to be included in the agreement as a commodity. However, Curran says, the parties agreed and recorded after the fact that water, in its natural form, is not a commodity. “Therefore, no jurisdiction can be forced to allow someone to use water for commercial purposes,” she says. “The management falls under the domestic state jurisdiction and they can’t be forced to license water flowing in a stream.”
In Prince Edward Island, a government advisory council is drafting a new Water Act for the province meant to pull together aspects of P.E.I.’s water resources and set up a transparent process for waterrelated decisions.
Emphasizing that the act is not complete – a first draft is expected this fall – George Somers, the province’s manager of drinking and waste water, highlights feedback the council has received from the public in the form of a public consultation report in May.
The issue of water-taking permits, for which P.E.I. does not currently charge fees, falls below concerns like highcapacity irrigation wells, conservation and water quality, Somers says.
The report asks, “Is water a resource, a commodity or something else?”
“Most people believe water has a higher status than commodity, but their main concern is that there be access for everyone to its supply and conservation for use of future generations,” Somers says. “People agree there must be a balance reached between environmental concerns and human use, but they have different ideas about where on the spectrum that balance lies,” he says.
CRUSH THROUGH OVERBURDEN DRILLS THE STRAIGHTEST HOLES
Foremost DR drills have been proven repeatedly in some of the toughest unconsolidated overburden formations, including sand, gravel, glacial till, and boulders.
The rotation of the casing by the lower drive results in a very straight hole making it ideal for shaft holes and foundation piles. This also minimizes stress on casing and casing welds, and eases the task of installing screens and pumps in water well applications.
Foremost’s Dual Rotary drills continue to make significant contributions to the productivity and profitability of operators worldwide. For a growing number of contractors, there’s simply no better way to drill.
NEW TECH ROUNDUP
New devices for water quality, quantity measurement
Technology is being introduced every year in every sector in all corners of the world – and ground water is no exception. Here is a roundup of some of the newest emerging technologies that are making it easier to extract and measure ground water quality and quantity at the source and on its way to the consumer.
WATER CALCULATOR
by TREENA HEIN
Solinst’s AquaVent vented water level datalogger measures water temperature and level by calculating pressure over time.
is a communication gateway about ground water using information from sensors and other sources available securely in an online database.
In early 2016, British Columbia began requiring all non-domestic well owners (including farms) to obtain a licence to withdraw water. This totals about 20,000 licences. The quantity connected to the licence is being determined using an online tool called the BC Agriculture Water Calculator. The database for this tool is being generated using the Agriculture Water Demand Model (AWDM), a model that’s been shown to provide consistent and reliable annual volumes for licence requests.
In the future, similar tools may be developed in other jurisdictions, but B.C. government media spokesperson David Karn says the AWDM that underlies this
particular calculator tool is only operational for British Columbia. “To produce a similar model for other regions would be a significant undertaking,” he explains, requiring climate, soils and irrigation demand models to be developed first.
Also in B.C., ground water “budgets” have been developed for five locations. Karn describes these budgets as a characterization of ground water movement between aquifers and hydraulically connected streams to assess potential impacts from pumping on surface flows. “The water budgets will provide a preliminary assessment of available ground water for allocation and monitoring recommendations for sustainable management,” he says.
LEFT:
RIGHT: Wellntel
Photo courtesy of Wellntel Photo courtesy of
•Learning
•Exploring
•Connecting
WATER LEVEL INSTRUMENTS
Going inside the well, B.C. Ground Water Association general manager Kathy Tixier notes that new technology is making monitoring water levels a lot easier than it used to be. “The newer sensors can communicate with smartphones without having to be yanked from the hole or can send data telemetrically via radio or cell signal so you don’t even have to visit the site,” Tixier says. Georgetown, Ont.-based Solinst has offered one of these tools (the Levelogger, newest update 2011) for many years, and in June launched the AquaVent maintenance-free vented water level datalogger. Jason Redwood, vice-president of marketing, says this tool measures water temperature and level by calculating pressure over time. It is barometrically compensated, uses replaceable batteries in the wellhead and features permanent desiccants.
Milwaukee, Wis.-based Wellntel, launched last year, allows well owners to measure current water level and water level over time, with the ability to compare current information to previous periods and other factors like rainfall. Wellntel is described as a communication gateway about ground water using information from one or more sensors or many other related sources, available securely to customers in an online database. Wellntel chief technology officer Nicholas Hayes says that since Wellntel was launched, it has enabled customers to gather “more ground water level data in the U.S. than all federal and state agencies combined, taking over two million readings in 18 states and two Canadian provinces.”
In April, Teledyne Isco released its new AccQpulse Velocity Profiler. The company says this device brings unparalleled precision and accuracy to flow rate measurement in various sizes of pipes and open channels, with a unique ability to measure velocity at multiple points. The shallow water sensor is used to measure flow in depths up to 1.2 metres, and the deep water sensor is used to measure flow up to 4.9 metres.
Japan-based Nagaoka offers various services and ground water intake technologies using its own manufactured
screens, which are now about to be launched in North America. Compared to conventional meshes and perforated plates, Nagaoka screens have a rigid clog-prevention structure designed to withstand temperature and pressure, an adjustable slot size and a range of shapes from cylindrical to flat. Spokesperson Yamada Katsuhiko says the screens can be applied in gallery, radial and collector wells for unconfined ground water intake, as well as in deep well artesian ground water intake applications.
WATER QUALITY
Nagaoka is also about to launch its extremely rapid and chemical-free revolutionary ground water treatment technology in North America. Nagaoka’s Katsuhiko says CHEMILES is already sold in seven countries, with two demonstration sites in the United States currently in place. CHEMILES has been approved for removing the following from ground water: iron, manganese, ammonium nitrogen and health-related contaminants of hexavalent chromium and arsenic.
Wisconsin-based Badger Meter has just released the E-Series Ultrasonic Plus meter. It incorporates an integrated shutoff valve into the lay length of the meter and features a patented threestate flow restriction valve that enables opening, closing and partially closing from other locations.
U.S.-based In-Situ released the Aqua TROLL 600 water monitor this year, which features a mobile app and works in both fresh and salt water. There is a sub-two-inch passive and
active antifouling system for all sensors including conductivity, notes marketing manager Janice Hiller. The battery life is nine months. “Offered in vented and nonvented options with customizable cable lengths, this flexible instrument has wetmateable connectors and universal ports, allowing custom sensor configuration for each site,” Hiller says.
In the past year, A.U.G. Signals Ltd. has further advanced its TRITON online water quality monitoring system, by enabling a 40 per cent reduction in energy consumption and a 50 per cent reduction in annual maintenance time. “TRITON’s contaminant list has also been upgraded to include chromate, manganese, ammonia, sulphate, colour, TOC, phenol, BETX, formaldehyde, UV 254, TSS, and more, which makes the system even more suitable for areas where the ground water is a primary source of drinking water,” senior project manager Cindy Dongxin Hu says.
Additional new features, for example, predictive trending alert, sequential sampling and video communication for online technical support, have also been added. “During the past year of operation in five different indigenous remote communities in Northwest Ontario, TRITON’s predictive trending alert function alone has helped prevent at least five potential boil water advisories,” Hu says.
Heron Instruments is a Hamilton, Ont.-based manufacturer and supplier of high-quality water level meters, interface meters and data loggers that has just released a new, affordable, fullfeatured borehole inspection camera.
The B.C. agriculture ministry’s Ted van der Gulik outlines the BC Agriculture Water Calculator at the BCGWA conference in March.
Spokesperson Terri Kernaghan says the Dipper-See is integrated into a singular unit, ideal for viewing in open bodies of water, wells, drains, sewers, boreholes and narrow tubes from one inch in diameter. It has a pressure rating of up to 300 metres.
New also this year is the Real Nitrate Analyzer from Real Tech in Whitby, Ont. “Nitrates have a natural peak at around the 220-nanometre wavelength,” Real Tech Applications research scientist Kerim Kollu explains. “Common interferences with the nitrate measurement at 220nm include organics and turbidity or suspended solids. However, [our] proprietary algorithm uses chemometric methods to compensate for these potential interferences using spectral absorbance data from hundreds of individual wavelengths of light.”
In comparing them to the other nitrate analyzers on the market, Kollu says Real Tech’s stand apart in the superior accuracy of their custom onsite calibrations, which account for site-specific water composition variations. In addition, the device’s automatic chemical cleaning system helps ensure accurate readings.
MANTECH in Guelph, Ont., is now distributing the PeCOD organics treatment and oxidation measurement system. While the instrument has been in the market for about eight years, MANTECH research and development
manager Stephen Moore says there has been a recent shift towards using the PeCOD in wastewater treatment facilities and for onsite ground water testing instead of just in labs. The PeCOD uses a nano technology titanium dioxide sensor and ultraviolet light to oxidize the organics in the sample and to directly measure the amount of oxidation in 15 minutes or less.
TECH OUTLOOK
In terms of what’s coming down the pipe, Chad Petersmeyer, hydrogeologist at Thurber Engineering in Victoria, B.C., and a member of the BCGWA, believes a hot tech area will be devices that quantify the connections between surface water and ground water. These, Petersmeyer notes, will be needed by regulators for allocation of water licences in B.C. and wherever else they have similar regulations.
“For data collection, it may involve better understanding of stratigraphy, such as using methods like sonic for drilling to get better samples, or hyporheic zone dynamics, for examples temperature measurements using LiDAR,” he says.
Petersmeyer says new technologies would also be welcome for simple and cost-effective tracer and isotope testing, and for virus detection as well. “I’m hearing more about PCR (polymerase chain reaction) testing for this purpose,” he notes.
WATER FROM AIR
Let’s end with some technology that seems to be from the future, but has already been created. Simon Fraser University Professor Majid Bahrami has spent the past three years working with his grad student Farshid Bagheri to create the patent-pending Hybrid Atmospheric Water Generator (HAWgen). This amazing technology generates clean drinking water from the atmosphere through the integration of sorption, refrigeration and filtration systems. The system provides water generation even in hot and dry conditions and can be run using both waste heat and renewable energy sources.
The incoming air stream is preconditioned using an adsorption system and then channelled into a refrigeration unit for condensation. The gathered water is then filtered. The prototype can apparently generate up to five times more water per day than conventional atmospheric water generation systems, and will be marketed through Bahrami’s company Watergenics.
If you’ve heard of new ground water technology we’ve missed here, please contact us with the details.
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GROUND WATER CENTRAL
Ground Water Conference & Expo 2016 Highlights
Drilling for ground water is more than a day-to-day business. It’s a responsibility and a chance to help sustain our environment and the human lives that depend on its health.
by COLLEEN CROSS
The Canadian Ground Water Conference and Expo, which took place June 8 to 11 in Niagara Falls, Ont., served as a reminder of ground water’s vital importance.
The event, organized by the Ontario Ground Water Association, was an exhilarating, ambitious mixture of trade show, educational forum, annual meeting, golf tournament, awards ceremony and industry strategy work.
For the first time since Canwell in 2014, members from across Canada – including contingents from British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick – met to discuss the business, technical, regulatory and scientific aspects of bringing ground water to the public.
The conference served as a hub for those interested in locating, accessing and protecting
ground water. Learning about the many complicated aspects of this precious resource took the form of educational sessions, group discussions, entertaining presentations, and displays from manufacturers and suppliers of equipment and products.
Lots of high-level and ground-water-level thinking went on at the Marriott Fallsview Hotel and Scotiabank Convention Centre, where the marquee gave ground water high visibility in an international vacation spot.
After a rather cool round of golf Wednesday evening, members were asked at Thursday’s lunch to do some big-picture thinking. Alfonso Rivera, chief hydrogeologist for the Geological Survey of Canada challenged a room full of keenly interested water well drillers, pump installers and hydrogeologists to imagine what
LEFT: Alfonso Rivera, chief hydrogeologist with the Geological Survey of Canada (left), talks with Johnny and John Wilson about how water well drillers, scientists and government can work together.
RIGHT: Roger Roy, executive director of the New Brunswick Ground Water Association, made the trip out from Edmundston to network and learn about plans for a new association of associations.
a Canada-wide industry association might look like and what role it might play in the overall scheme of ground water management.
Rivera, who spent many years with National Resources Canada and was involved in key ground water committee discussions, summarized works published and actions taken over the years by the federal government, culminating in the Council of Canadian Academies’ 2009 recommendations published in The Sustainable Management of Groundwater in Canada. The Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment is moving forward on these recommendations through the provinces, he said. What’s needed is “a clear collaborative and co-ordination mechanism” for carrying out the report’s ideas, along with more funding, wider sharing of data and more personnel.
Water well drillers are key partners in accounting for ground water, he said, and encouraged drillers to work more closely with the GSC to share their pumping levels, well records and other data. “The wells are our eyes,” he said.
Rivera also shared details of ambitious ground water mapping projects he has been leading at the GSC. As part of his proposed national framework for aquifer and ground water accounting, Rivera and his team have mapped 19 of 30 aquifers using remote satellite technologies. By 2019 they expect to have 22 completed, at which point they will begin taking action based on the data they have collected. Assessing and providing ground water use information is a key step in making sure government budgets reflect the quantity and allocation of ground water, Rivera noted.
Those attending the session agreed to the next step of each provincial association appointing a representative to come to the national discussion table. Larger goals of a central Canadian organization include the co-ordination of standards and having a united voice with which to lobby government. Practical priorities expressed in the meeting included keeping membership costs down and not making it mandatory for members to belong to their provincial association.
William M. Alley, the science and technology director for the U.S. National Ground Water Association, provided a
Josh Douma and Kevin Kopec of InSitu Contractors in Guelph happily posed with their Nordic Drill DR-10-A (they planned to take it home after the show).
fascinating overview of ground water sustainability. Alley, who also served as chief of the Office of Groundwater at the United States Geological Survey for nearly two decades, defined sustainability and laid bare some of its common myths. He described sustainability as “the development and use of ground water in a manner that can be maintained for an indefinite time without causing unacceptable environmental, economic, or social consequences.”
Among myths he debunked: ground water and surface water are separate resources, ground water systems are safe as long as pumping doesn’t exceed recharge (in fact, ideally, pumping should at a lower level than recharge), and to manage ground water we need to know exactly how much we have, or “total storage” (in fact, although measurement is important, there are other factors involved, and a small change in levels can have a big impact).
Alley identified pressing challenges, such as as nitrates in Chesapeake Bay, and the need to establish total daily maximum load in the face of disagreement among scientists.
Another kind of resource got plenty of attention at the conference: the human resource. During an educational session, Fleming College’s Jim Smith made a convincing case for prioritizing staff training. Smith, a professor at the college and the new head of the resources
drilling and blasting program, following retiring longtime professor Gordon Bailey, pointed out that the Internet has made customers far more, if not always accurately, educated. He asked drillers if their staff could adequately answer questions that arise on the jobsite, and, more pointedly, if they had trained their employees to answer them. Effective training involves setting skill objectives, teaching to meet those objectives and assessing an employee’s retention of the training. It’s important to keep in mind that some people learn by seeing, others learn by hearing and still others learn by doing, he said, adding that varying your teaching methods will address these differences in learning styles.
It’s important to keep the objectives in mind; for example, using a chainsaw is a skill to be taught with the wider goal of cutting down a tree without damaging nearby buildings.
David Coletto may have opened some minds with his talk on managing millennial workers. Coletto is a founding partner and CEO of Abacus Data, a company that focuses on strategies for working with and marketing to the so-called millennial generation encompassing those aged 16 through 36. Millennial Canadians have the same values and goals as their baby-boomer parents – getting married, buying a home, having children and having a steady job – but they express these goals
differently, the youthful-looking 34-year-old said. These young workers, many of whom were raised by overprotective parents, need structure, he added. Coletto encouraged an audience largely made up of baby boomers and gen Xers to provide young workers with training and professional development and to offer them regular feedback on their performance.
One theme that emerged from the event was the idea of people in the water industry being connected – to their clients and to one another. Canadian Water Quality Association executive director Kevin Wong touched on this notion by suggesting water well contractors take it upon themselves to become go-to resources for their clients. Wong, an animated and passionate speaker, updated members on recent regulatory work he and the association are doing on behalf of the waterwell industry. His work includes getting water treatment incorporated into the plumbing code and helping ensure that a section of the CSA B483.1 standard for drinking water treatment systems fully supports the code. Wong shared his goal of incorporating rainwater into legislation and of seeing sustainability included in the building code. “We have to do things differently,” he said.
Wong also had some advice for water well contractors: Know the water chemistry and be able to communicate it to homeowners, water treatment specialists and septic professionals. “Make friends,” he said, referring to the development of partnerships among professionals – building
of Conrad Well Drilling in Parry Sound, make time to catch up at the trade show floor meet-and-greet.
inspectors, plumbing contractors – who work on water systems. “You are the link. Communicate what you have learned to the inspector or make sure it’s on the well record,” he added.
Wong also suggested well drillers consider adding water treatment and septic work to their list of services. “Imagine how that will up your game, if you can say you can do A, B, C and D,” he said.
Peter S. Cartwright, McElhiney lecturer and technical
The Model 101 P7 Water Level Meter uses Solinst laser marked flat tape, which is accurately marked every 1/100 ft or each mm and Certified traceable to national standards. Submersible P7 Probe is ideal for total well depth measurements to 1000 ft (300 m).
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Rob Martini of Canadian Pipe & Pump Supply in Toronto, and Paul Conrad
William Alley, the science and technology director for the U.S. National Ground Water Association, debunked several myths about sustainability and described success stories.
consultant for the CWQA, led a lively session on contaminants and treatment options. Cartwright went over primary standards, which relate to health, and secondary standards, which relate to esthetic qualities of water. Manganese is threatening water quality. Primary standards generally are getting tighter. He drew attention to manganese as a secondary contaminant that is likely to be added to the list of primary contaminants in the near future. Manganese can make water appear brown, red, orange, yellow or black. It is usually present where iron is present, and oxidizes, though not as easily as iron. It forms a black precipitate. Treatments include a combination of oxidation and filtration using a specialty filter medium such as Greensand Plus, and softening where manganese is found in low concentrations.
So many contaminants can’t be seen, tasted, smelled, he said. “Start with a good analysis.” He recommended Water Treatment for Dummies, which you can download for free at www.wqa.org/ dummies) as a useful resource for those looking to get familiar with the processes and tools.
The trade show, which ran alongside the educational program, gave attendees ample time to talk equipment and
The OGWA’s Anne Gammage (left) congratulates Mary Jane Conboy and Dan McLean on their Earth, Wind, Fire, Water award for outstanding contributions to the ground water industry, including their implementation of the Well Wise program.
Lisa Thompson, Conservative MLA of Ontario for Huron-Bruce and provincial environment critic helped open the expo. With her are president Darren Juneau and wife Jessica Niereisel (left), and executive director Craig Stainton (right).
products with manufacturers and suppliers. Six shiny rigs and trucks provided impressive focal centrepieces for drillers looking to upgrade their equipment and vehicles for transporting it. AMS brought its smaller-footprint Power Probe to the expo. Atlas-Copco’s TH-60 occupied a wide berth. Eloquip had on display a truck it designed for J.R. Wilson and Sons Well Drilling. Oak-Land Ford Lincoln Sales showed off its customized F-550 with a roller for easy loading and unloading. Wellmaster Pipe and Supply’s BT-32B pump hoist, designed for Well Initiatives, garnered a lot of attention. Drillers-cumdesigners Simon and Donnald Massé of Montreal’s Groupe Puitbec brought their customized Nordic Drill DR-10-A, designed for hard-to-access sites.
Parts and tool manufacturers and
suppliers and service providers were on hand on the show floor to provide information and guidance on their products. Show sponsors Franklin Electic, Grundfos, Berkeley, Pentair, Canpipe, Heron Instruments, Lackner McLennan Insurance and Rideau Pipe & Drilling Supplies, as well as a host of manufacturers and suppliers were on hand with their wares.
Featured products included Heron Instruments’ DipperSee borehole inspection camera, Versa-Drill’s newest GT8 model for geotechnical drilling and GEFCO’s Mud Doctor 400 for removal of solids from drilling fluid.
Company on the move
Lackner McLennan Marks 70th Anniversary with Acquisition
Lackner McLennan Insurance based in Waterloo, Ontario recently celebrated their 70th year in business by hosting an open house in July for about 150 of its customers and business associates. The event took place both under a large tent set up in the parking lot as well as inside the well appointed office space.
But the big news came July 29th when the company announced it had purchased one of the oldest and most respected insurance companies in south-western Ontario - Erb and Erb Insurance. The staff count will grow from 40 to 106 with the acquisition. Both companies will continue to operate as their own entities for the “next few years to provide continuity for both staff and clients, providing the same level of service clients have come to expect,” Lackner McLennan said in a press release.
Both firms have been recognized for their aggressive pursuits of new technology solutions, offering mobile apps, digital marketing, and online bind and purchase options. Over the next few years, the firms will continue to bolster product offerings, service and technology advances to create a dynamic and expanding business.
Lackner McLennan is excited to welcome the staff of Erb and Erb
to their team. The alignment of values and goals between the two organizations will position both entities to better serve their clients.
Stephen Bleizeffer, a partner at Lackner McLennan, noted in the release that the industry is “witnessing incredible technology advancements that will have a deep impact on how we do business. As a result, we recognized the importance of gaining resources, strength and scale to position the firm for future success. We at Lackner McLennan look forward to celebrating Erb and Erb’s 100th anniversary in 2019.”
Having a larger market share in written premiums will allow both companies to have more clout and authority to work with the insurance companies on behalf of their clients. Lackner McLennan will also now have Life Insurance, Employee Benefits and Financial Investment Services available to meet the needs of their current and new general insurance policy holders and clients.
Lackner McLennan as one of the largest group program insurance brokerages, have been providing insurance to the ground water industry, alternative health care and 28 other specialty insurance programs since 1992.
NEW PRODUCTS
DRC-10-A CUSTOM BUILT FOR TIGHT SPACES
Simon and Donnald Massé of Groupe Puitbec in Victoriaville, Que., shared details of their custom-designed drill rig, the DRC-10-A, at the Canadian Ground Water Conference and Trade Show in June. On display was the DRC-10-A, which is designed to manoeuvre into hard-to-reach residential sites.
The longtime drilling contractors designed the 10-inch dual-rotary crawler with a slide angle mast to answer their company’s own need for a rig that would fit into tight quarters for smaller residential jobs. They are selling it under the name Nordic Drill.
“We have run dual rotary
rigs for 15 years. With the residential markets, we were looking for a smaller DR mounted on a crawler as opposed to wheels,” Simon Massé said.
With legislation setting out strict distances between septic tanks and water wells, getting drill rigs onto work sites can be difficult and require tight manoeuvring, he said. “Even the smallest DR was too heavy, too strong and too expensive for such jobs.”
After searching Europe for a suitable rig and not finding what they needed, they set about customizing an American-style rig.
According to the company’s website the smaller and lighter crawler inflicts less damage on sites and requires less site preparation.
Compared to a conventional air rotary drill, the DRC10-A allows for accuracy amid overburden under tough conditions, good sampling and screen installations. It also makes extraction of the casing easier and helps keep the work site clean.
The machine is run by
remote control and features an anti-rotation system. It is very safe to operate, Massé said.
Its slide angle mast, which is useful for specialized drilling and mining, allows for reverse circulation drilling, drilling for anchors and pile drilling.
www.nordicdrill.com
WAJAX CARRIES STANCOR SUBMERSIBLE PUMPS
Wajax Industrial Components now carries Stancor Pumps across Canada. Stancor Pumps, a designer and manufacturer of electric submersible pumps and controls, offers a variety of products designed for harsh operating conditions.
“Stancor and Wajax engineering groups will help customers design the right controls and pumps for their applications, ensuring they get exactly what they require,” Byers said.
The line includes heavy-duty slurry pumps, sump pumps, low-suction drainage pumps, multi-purpose sump pumps, stainless steel centreline dewatering pumps and non-clog effluent pumps.
Stancor’s Avenger waste water effluent pumps are designed to handle wastewater, effluent and industrial waste economically, according to the release. Semi-recessed vortex impellers on the SE and SV pumps, as well as the SEW vortex series, handle solids up to two inches deep. The SC version is the “cutter” design for sewage applications. All motors in this series are 3600 r.p.m. They are available as freestanding pumps or with guiderail assemblies for quick removal.
Stancor Pumps are available up to 75 horsepower, with flows of up to 3500 gallons per minute and heads up to 450 feet, or 195 pounds per square inch. Units are available in voltages of 115, 230, 460, 575 and 950. www.stancorpumps.com
‘CONTROL FREAK’ MANAGES PUMPS BY TOUCH SCREEN
A new electronic controller that provides motor speed control for Wanner Engineering’s line of Hydra-Cell pumps features an easy-to-use touch-screen display and built-in programming. The
Control Freak allows the user to enter the desired flow rate or volume in either gallons or litres and system pressure in either pounds per square inch or bar, and then the controller automatically runs the pump manually at the desired flow rate or volume total/time, or in pre-set batches.
The controller enables programming for flow rate as well as for the life of the pump, the company said in a press release. Control Freak can control up to six pumps with one screen and 10 separate batch set-up screens per pump. It features a variable frequency drive and is pre-set with password protection for Hydra-Cell pump algorithms; however, it can also be fieldcalibrated for greater accuracy.
The seven-inch colour graph-
ic touch-screen user interface in a NEMA-4X (or IP) enclosure is easy to operate and visible in low-light areas. Operational features also include a real-time clock, pump-drive information screen and four configurable on-off relays.
The metering controller has standard safety features for emergency stop, loss of power and fault monitoring. Options include an oil temperature probe kit, ball-mount assembly for the touch screen, VFD enclosure and additional cables.
www.hydra-cell.com/metering/ product/index.html
LITTLE BEAVER LAUNCHES HEAVY-DUTY GEOTECH RIG
Little Beaver Earth Drills and Augers recently launched its Lone Star heavy-duty geotechnical drill rig. The LST1G+HD drills to 100 feet with an optional 4.25-inch hollowstem auger. The new model offers enhanced power and capabilities when compared to the company’s smaller LST1G+ geotechnical drill. Little Beaver added a planetary reduction gearbox for more torque and
NEW PRODUCTS
a reduction mechanism for increased push- and pull-back force over its standard geotechnical drill rig.
The Lone Star is designed to give engineers and soil technicians an efficient, robust and dependable drill for standard penetration tests and sampling soils for academic testing, the company said in a press release.
Little Beaver has increased the rig’s torque from 500 with the standard model to 1,100 foot-pounds, doubling the drill depth to 100 feet. It provides users with 8,500 pounds of push- and pull-back
force for tackling challenging soil conditions, as opposed to 5,000 pounds on the standard model. Little Beaver accommodated for the additional force by increasing the unit’s pull capacity with a double-row 80 drive chain. The strength of the unit’s steel frames also has been increased by 50 per cent for enhanced durability.
The rig comes with the SSK1 kit, which includes a tower, pulley, third hydraulic valve and steel cathead.
The drill is mounted on a lightweight, single-axle trailer that can be towed by an ATV or a small truck for quick, easy manoeuvrability from site to site. It’s also equipped with a two-inch hitch, three levelling jacks and a spare tire. A hydraulic lift cylinder raises and lowers the mast, which folds down when the unit is moved. The drill can be shipped fully assembled in a 20-foot container or knocked down and palletized for transportation by standard truck or ocean freight.
www.littlebeaver.com
NEW PRODUCTS
SLIM LINE WELL CHECK VALVES CARRY THEIR WEIGHT
Flomatic Corporation’s new 80SL Slim Line Well Check valves are designed to support the weight of up to 1,000 feet of pipe and well pump.
The valves are available in a size range from two to eight inches with fusion epoxy coating standard to protect the body material. The small outside diameter (OD) on the valve body allows for tight fits into the well and is made from a strong carbon steel or optional 316 stainless steel valve body with corrosion-resistant 316 SS internal valve parts. This check valve provides energy efficiencies at lower friction loss, Flomatic said in a release. www.flomatic.com
MERRILL OFFERS CONTROL-BOX OPTION
Merrill Manufacturing has an alternative to installing a traditional control box and
pressure switch, running wires between them and fitting all the connections in an undersized case. The company’s Control Switch combines a three-wire control box (which consists of a start capacitor, relay, run capacitor and wire terminal strip) and a pressure switch into one easier-to-install device.
The design eliminates the added time to install and connect a pressure switch and a separate control box, Merrill said in a press release.
The device offers a heavyduty pressure switch for longer life, an extra large case for easy wiring and heavy brass wire connections that can hold number 4 wire.
“Instead of a standard pressure switch and control box, installers are finding that Merrill’s control switch can act like a junction box,” said Danny Ahrens, a Florida contractor
who has been involved with more than 50 field installations with the device, in the release.
“The design reduces the amount of required connections –including conduit, fittings, washers, and lock washers – by half,” Ahrens said. “This speeds installation up to 50 per cent, allowing installers to take on more jobs.”
“Traditional control boxes are motor specific, so have to be matched to run properly,” Ahrens said. “With the control switch, however, contractors can travel light because it works with any domestic or foreign motor.”
www.merrillmfg.com
AMS POWERPROBE HAS SMALL FOOTPRINT
Atlas Geo-Sampling has added the PowerProbe 9510 to its fleet of direct-push-technology (DPT) units.
The 9510 PowerProbe, which was on display at the Canadian Ground Water Conference and Trade Show in June, has a small footprint, making it suitable for handling jobs within hard-to-reach spaces, such as building interiors, the company
representative said.
The drill is a versatile and powerful unit that expands the capabilities of the company’s DPT rigs, the Atlas website says. The rig is outfitted with an auger motor, winch and auxiliary hydraulic connection in a compact track-mounted configuration.
Direct-push drills have gained widespread acceptance in many industries due to their versatility, relatively low cost and ease of mobility, according to the website.
Mounted on pick-up trucks, trailers, or tracks, AMS PowerProbe direct-push drill rigs are capable of retrieving soil, soil gas and ground water samples, as well as conducting a wide variety of environmental and geotechnical drilling activities.
Compared to conventional drilling activities, directpush technology is less labour intensive and generates fewer cuttings, the website said.
www..atlas-geo.com
The lost art of customer service
by Russ Dantu
Is it just me or does customer service seem to be a lost art in many businesses?
Depending on which survey you read, approximately 90 per cent of businesses will not make it to their fifth anniversary. They will close their doors. Cease to exist. Kaput. And even the strongest water pump won’t get them flowing smoothly again!
Why? Well, there can be many reasons for a business to go under, from a lack of marketing to ineffective salespeople to poor customer service. I’m a huge believer that customer service will make or break your business.
Think about it: have you ever seen a business fail that consistently gave exceptional customer service? I’d love to hear from you if you have. More often than not, the problem is a combination of poor service and increased competition.
You owe it to yourself, your employees and your customers to make sure your customer service exceeds your customers’ expectations and blows your competition out of the water.
By following these three customer service nuggets, your business will have a decisive advantage over most of your competitors and you will enlist raving fans who will not only continue to shop with you but also recommend you whenever the opportunity arises:
1. DWYSYWD – This is a form of a palindrome (a word spelled the same whether you read it forward or backward). Simply put, “Do What You Say You Will Do.” It comes from a book called Leadership Excellence by Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner.
How many times have you had a promise or commitment from a supplier (or family member) only to find they let you down by not following through on what they said they would do? How did that make you feel? Were you wary to trust them next time? By always doing what you say you will do, you will keep your customers (and family members) smiling. There is also the team version – Do What We Say We Will Do! Get your team on board with this and it will be smooth sailing!
2. Treat them how they want to be treated. Truly get to know your customers whenever you can. Find out as much as you can about them so
you have a clear understanding of who they are, what they expect and how to keep them happy.
There is an old saying, known as the Golden Rule in many religions and cultures: “Treat people how you want to be treated.” When it comes to business dealings, I wholeheartedly disagree with it. If you know your customer base is largely a meat and potatoes type of crowd, would you serve them caviar and champagne at an open house just because you like caviar and champagne? Exactly! Get to know them and treat them as you think they would like to be treated: serve them burgers and fries or steak and potatoes.
3. Wow them. Pleasing your customers is about the experience they have every time they do business with you. You don’t have to have a barrel of monkeys, red carpet and fireworks shooting off to impress your customers. What you do need to do is to provide exceptional customer service every time they enter your place of business and every time you go on site or make service calls. Always be professional and punctual, provide more than they expect, and thank them.
Here’s a quick test you can conduct yourself. For the next week, whenever you make a purchase somewhere, notice if the business actually thanks you. What often happens is we purchase something and we say “thank you” to the seller or service provider and they say “uh-huh” or “you’re welcome.” Given that we’ve spent our hardearned money with them, does this make sense?
While I have many more customer service tips, these three nuggets will get your business flowing in the right direction miles ahead of your competitors.Take care of yourselves and your customers!
Russ Dantu has been delivering workshops, seminars and keynote speeches on customer service for over 15 years. Russ has helped thousands of people increase their company’s overall health and taught them to not only survive but thrive. He recently presented at the 45th annual BCGWA convention in Kamloops, B.C. For more information or to hire Russ for your next event, visit www.russdantu.com or email him at russ@russdantu.com.
