July 1 , 2014 The Middle of the Year

Mid-year but not quite mid -season for us as we tend to work into November. We are however through the early bookings and into the summer schedule.  

With all the rain in SK and MB and at the request of  clients we pushed off  and will do a loop, centered around Medicine Hat and Swift Current and head to BC before heading further east in SK and into MB. Originally from southeast  MB I can relate and hope the water goes out much faster then it came. 

We did a rush survey near Stavely, AB 2 weeks ago and were able to get the on site portion of the survey completed within a day of being called. Pretty close to home. They had already drilled 2 dry holes with the new home already on site so everyone was getting a little nervous with the water issue. With the survey done we completed the report late that evening and left for Medicine Hat dropping off the report on the way.  The "best of survey"  site was estimated at 3-5 gpm with the bottom of the aquifer at 60 meters. The driller got back on site drilled and called within a day saying they got water above the estimated depth. He called the next day to say yield was closer to 10 gpm than the 3-5 gpm estimated in the report. It all worked out OK, little further to trench the power and waterline, and the cost of the dry holes, but still much needed water for the new home already on the lot that may have been forced to haul water. I always say "get the water first". 

Trenching a bigger distance in itself is doable and not that big a deal with people at times trenching ½ mile to bring water to an existing yard. However it can get pretty expensive and hard on the budget if it isn't expected. If it’s a new site, finding where to drill first, is the best thing you can do to maximize the yield you can get. Drilling the well after a survey, and before you plan your yard, is the second best thing to prove your water supply so you know what you have. From there you locate your house, buildings and avoid the surprise of a bigger bill that can easily be into the thousands putting extra pressure on your building budget. 

It is becoming very normal for us to be working with clients or developers that insist on proving water before they even buy the property making offers to purchase conditional on finding and proving a viable water supply. Here in S.AB a new water well(s) can easily increase the value of a property by 2 or 3 times.

As always the more advance notice we have on your booking a survey the better. More than ever we need to plan our loops to save overhead and save you extra cost. With fuel being our biggest expense if we can group 4-5 surveys in a planned loop everyone avoids surcharges. If we need to travel 500+ km to get to you we have to work in the extra costs. Call early. It's worth your while.

AB Ranchers and Farmers wanting to take advantage of the Growing Forward 2 Program should check out http://www.growingforward.alberta.ca/. You need to contact your local ARD Water Specialist and get your forms and paperwork completed before you start a project. Rural Water development projects that are eligible can get reimbursement of up to one-third of expenses which include most related costs for water development to a maximum of $5,000 per applicant.

   

Do remember that for us to do a survey you need complete your underground locates anywhere we may be working, before we arrive.  Have a great and profitable summer.

SPRING ? 2014

This update is a very late and we started spring surveys nearly 3-4 weeks ago. We were well overdue for a website and made the decision in February and expected it to be live by mid-March.   Bottom line it should have easily been done and should have been a fun exciting process. With the wrong company it simply was not.  With next to no progress by early May we finally abandoned the time, effort, and investment and started over with a new marketing company a week ago. We now expect the site up in under 2 weeks. SO keep tuned. Meantime surveys are underway.

Spring?  It seems to be here and then “not”, with more snow still possible here. That said, we have already done a fair bit of work in AB and SK and expect to head to BC for next week to complete the early bookings there. From there we will be heading back into AB then into E SK and western MB.

Of note is that we purchased the newest and latest seismo-electric equipment in mid-2013 and now have the ability double our work load. With system improvements we can work in the field more effectively and do better work.  We fully expect this will be our biggest year ever. The really good thing is nearly all our bookings are due to referrals from clients, well drillers and the Ag. Extension specialists that know us across the west. Our trip to BC next week is for surveys that are all direct result of referrals. It really is awesome to be able to say that.

Hear one of our favorite referrals from BC below!

Mclease Lake Voice Mail After Drilling

As always "CALL BEFORE YOU DRILL"  and do Book early.. it saves us a ton of travel costs and and therefore will save you money too!

Spring 2013

Spring 2013

Sorry if the website and blog seemed to have disappeared the last few days. A client had been on site last week, spoke to us on the weekend and went back yesterday to fill in the booking form. Thankfully he called when he couldn't  get into the site. Apparently … a hosting glitch.
  

We have had our earliest start ever with a survey mid-February N of Calgary, thanks to a Chinook and a +10C day.  Frost was much less of an issue than we expected due to lots of snow cover on this one much the same as one we finished in early December. Both these off-season surveys make us more apt to try surveys thru winter when they are close to home, and as long as we get a good Chinook for a day or 2.  Living in MB till a few years ago that just would have never happened.  Rule of thumb for us is if its above freezing and the client can pound a ½” rebar 2 feet into the ground we should be able to work with no issues.

Spring is about to get very busy and this year is back to normal with early surveys starting in southern AB and SK again. Last year we left AB to get started on surveys in SK and into MB as the ground was thawed there a lot earlier than here.

For this season and with snow in some areas our main rounds may be delayed a little.  To cover the bookings we have nowand if we don't split N and S, we will need to do at least 2 loops  travelling  east on # 1 thru to MB and then back on HWY 16  from Russell, MB thru to Westlock before heading back south. Right now we are still adding to both loops based on urgency but the 2^nd  round won’t be started till May or so. In the meantime we hope to get surveys done here in the south before we head out on the first one.

Best of Spring !  Call before your Drill Book early to Save !

Last Year - New Year

2012 was a Great Year. Our last 2 surveys, done in early December the clients both drilled wells shortly after the survey. Though we typically won’t do surveys much past snow and/or freeze up, we ended up doing a few S.AB surveys into November, and then thanks to a Chinook, completed another survey in early December and 2 clients already drilled.  Some wet and cold  years working into December  just isn’t feasible but it worked well here this year.

For the 2^nd last drill behind on a site near Champion, we were originally called to do the rush survey after a driller completed 4 near-dry holes on the site in late fall. We did our typical survey exploring the quarter section with random sounding sites at large spacing and then doing field interpretation, triangulating near what appeared to be the best area with additional sites.  From comparative analysis of the data the report identified the best site of the triangulated area and also identified potential at one of the random sites. None of the sites had yield estimates of much more than 3 gpm. After reviewing  the report  the owner called suggesting that a similar rated random site may be a more suitable area for a well and asked if he could drill there.  After explaining the risk in using this as an alternative drill site with only the one data set collected there, the owner agreed to let us do a couple of more sounding sites nearby to verify before trying.  New data from the follow up sites though not stronger, provided the support to consider the initial random site as a viable alternate. The driller started the next day.

The owner called that night to say they had hit the shallow water as identified and the driller was going to let it sit overnight to test the quality and yield in the morning.  He called again the following afternoon. “You could not have called it better! The shallow water was there, just as you reported, but when the driller tested it this morning it was good water but was only looking like 1 gpm so I told them to keep going. The rig blew dust from there on and we thought for a while we were done,  but just as stated in your follow up advice, the driller hit the sandstone ledges at a depth of 50 meters . The driller went another pipe stem after that and after a quick test he figures it will do 5 gpm. That’s easily enough for the new house.  Pretty impressive! You ever need a referral just have them call me!”

The last drill behind SW of High River, AB was completed a week or so ago and had a similar outcome, the owner emailing that it was a better than expected 6 gpm well for the new home build. Given the challenge to find water in both these areas it was great way to end the 2012 season.

That was the end of 2012. We fully anticipate a much busier 2013. Spring Bookings are already double what they were last year when the season started in mid-April and we have yet to do the call backs to callers from late 2012.  Given the number of pre-booked surveys we have heading towards spring we expect it will take 6-8 weeks to do the initial 2 rounds through Western Canada this year with Round 1 starting wherever the frost is out first. A round typically takes us East down HWY 1 into MB back west on HWY 16 to Lloydminster and areas north and then Edmonton. Depending on the spring  we may return home first or the loop may extend into Northern BC, and back South through Williams Lake  to Penticton before heading home. 

October 1, 2012 Update & “We Got Water!!!”

The chill is in the air but we aren't complaining.  It has been a great fall and it remains pretty active, both for fall as well as 2013. We already have over a dozen surveys booked across the west for next spring. Our recent travels took us from N to S BC to bring us completely caught up on bookings there, and last week into SK. We did  leave a couple of bookings behind there and picked up 1 more in SK since so a few more to do there before freeze up.

The next loop(s) will take us up to N. AB to Westlock and east as far as St. Paul. We may continue SE from there for couple of the bookings in SK though might just tackle those the next week as it may allow us to pick up another survey or 2  in central and south SK which will help those clients avoid  mileage charges. Most of these fall surveys are forward planning for next year so clients are able to book drillers for either just before the frost goes out, or for first thing after the road restrictions come off in spring and things dry up a little.

With Thanksgiving coming close we do  need to extend our gratitude to some of past clients and a couple of  the well drillers that know us. In the last few weeks we have completed  6 surveys that were a direct result of referrals from happy clients and well drillers. Advertising works but there is nothing as satisfying as obtaining more jobs as a result of a  referral from a satisfied client.

The “We Got Water!!!” in the heading  is from an email sent by a MB client in September who finally got water after we did a survey early this spring and after he had already done 3 dry holes prior on a small cottage lot. He had to wait most of the summer for the driller he wanted. He emailed as follows:

" We drilled on the north west corner of our lot on Tuesday and went to 137 feet, where there was approx. 4 feet of sand just above the granite.   We pumped all night and the well stayed consistent with 3 gallons per minute . So we are obviously very happy."

The recommendation in the report was as follows:

The data indicates that site 3DP1 has the highest interpreted yield (low Category B) and presents the site to be the best of those surveyed for one to consider developing a water well. The data indicates that the bulk of any water that may be available at site 3DP1 will likely be obtained above 45 meters bgs (below ground surface) with the slight possibility of additional yield if drilled to 70 meters bgs which should be considered as the maximum depth to drill. 

Our yield estimates in reports are rated in Categories. A Category B is 3-5 gpm . 

September 4, Snow on the Peaks

Looking west to the mountain peaks this morning from my office, the snow that has been visible part of the last couple of weeks is pretty much gone again but the crisp mornings and cooler days suggest it may not be long before its back. I like the look of white peaks but do hope we do not get “white” lower down anytime soon. Still work to get done.

We returned from SK a week ago completing 4 of 5 surveys. With the rain in SK costing us 2 days, and time commitments on AB surveys we had to leave one survey near Maple Creek undone. All good though as within 2 days of getting back to AB, we had booked 2 more surveys on the west side of SK nearby.  Now current near home the next few of weeks will take us to Edmonton, W. SK and again North into BC as far as Chetwynd. We also have to loop into S. BC (Vernon and Castlegar) to complete surveys there.

There are years when we have worked thru till late November  and even December in S.AB and SK with very little frost but our bookings definitely slow after September and early October. As a result, the later in the season, the higher the likelihood of mileage charges in most areas other than S. AB so if drilling a well is on the horizon for fall or early spring, book as soon as you can to avoid the surcharges.

August 18, East/West Schedule Updates

We have been getting some calls and emails from potential clients saying we should  try to BLOG our travels in advance a little better once we know we are headed in a certain direction to give them a bit of a heads up. This way they will know we might be getting close to them. Clients comments that they have been to the website, visited the blog, and though interested do not book or contact us right away. Then reviewing our site, or contacting us a week or 2  later  find out that we had just been through there area,  just days after they were first on the web site. They comment  " had we known how close you were going to be, we would have booked a survey". Instead, when they do contact us a little to late,  they either have to wait till we get a group of surveys again in the area,  or face mileage surcharges to get us there. We will try to get a little ahead of the "wagon"  in an effort to correct this.  We do want to save clients (as well as our own) travel costs when we can.

We always maintain  a list of clients that call or email us of their interst in a survey and use email notification or calls to keep them in the "loop" which is still the best. Up till now we have not really tried to do that on our blog.  This is in part because in spring most of the time we have committed to a travel schedule that is laid out for when the the ground thaws. Added  to that, the spring schedule fills the first 8-10 weeks of our season and so not always easy to fit in surveys.  That said we can do this later in the year and at times, even in spring as we allow for some flexibility due to an allowance we make in the schedule.(for 2 bad weather days each week). In a "good weather" year or early spring, this can allow us to fit in additional surveys without effecting completion dates we have committed to on early bookings.

So our travels the next while...

The next few days will be focused on completing  surveys in Southern AB.  We expect to be headed down HWY 1 as far south as Regina  later next week (maybe as far as Virden, MB) . On our return  home we may do a couple of surveys in central AB, and will stock up and head west into BC in the first part of September. Right now we will had as far west as as Kelowna and from there back home on the south route for surveys on route thru Creston and Castlegar. Mostly like direction for travels  in mid September will be to N. AB. and possibly NE BC.

Mid-August 2012, Color in the Leaves

This summer has been full of surprises with dramatic changes in weather and with our summer bookings. Between the hail and hard rains,  and with color in the leaves in some areas even a couple of weeks ago,  I prefer to think it’s the hail damage rather than fall.  

The spring and early summer bookings kept us hopping right thru Stampede and up till early August.  Usually by late July we are a little quieter, waiting on crops and hay to get cut,  but it was pretty steady.  We are now at the time when some farmers want us to wait a couple of weeks till their less busy but its offset somewhat by an increase in acreage development again..

With all the international news and stress for most of the world on avoiding and worrying about recession,  from our business perspective things improved a fair bit in Western Canada this year compared to the last 2.

We did notice the real estate slow down the last couple of years mainly due to less acreage development. There seemed to be less demand for acreages or maybe an oversupply,  so with less development, less wells needed,  so less surveys. On the other side farmers and ranchers demand did improve during this same period which continues though more in in the beef sector. Ranchers were enjoying a healthy market with many seeming to plan for improvements on  water supply so it  would not be a limiting factor on increasing production. Now given the drought in the USA the market should stay up for some time.

We have done  3 loops to date this year thru most areas of Western Canada, covering sites located as far east as Lake Winnipeg to as far west  as Ashcroft BC and as far north as La Crete, AB. We expect to hit most areas in the west at least once with 2-3  loops into our busier areas. As always, especially off the beaten track, book early to avoid mileage charges. 

July - Calgary Stampede

Coming up on the Calgary Stampede and this year we planned more to be working closer to home this next while so we could take in more of the festivities than we have in past summers. Most of our survey work will be in S AB during the next couple of weeks though we do expect to get at surveys in the southeast corner of BC as well.

By about the middle of July we expect to head into N AB again as far north as La Crete and then cut across to Fort St. John and Chetwynd for a few surveys there before working our way back again. Returning home to regroup we will then head into SK and MB for the the booked surveys there heading east on HWY 1 at least till Brandon and then work back West on HWY 16 to Edmonton. With the bookings in hand now, it’s unlikely we will get into southern BC again much before the 2^nd or 3^rd week in August.

Though we have been caught with more rain-out days on the road this year than ever before (and long road closures),  we aren’t complaining as the very early start in SK and MB this spring let us get enough surveys done that we are well ahead of previous years.

As always book early.. It helps us and it will be cheaper for you.  

June Update

Just a quick update as we get thru our busy spring season mostly caught up in Ab and SK and on the road to BC to do our early bookings there. We head North to Fort St. John, then Chetwynd, after which we will head back down thru Prince George and then head to Merritt for surveys, with a couple of more on the way back home. We may be heading further south in BC from HWY 1 pending word from a client in Vernon though that may end up being done with a second loop in June. Makes more sense to head in in from the south end of BC instead, thru Creston,  and then back up to Penticton, Vernon, and Salmon Arm. 

In addtion to getting current on AB surveys we expect to fit in a loop in SK which will get us caught up on bookings to date by early July. That said  we already have post haying and harvest bookings for later in the summer.

Our Number 1 Question

Do We Need a Survey in our area?

I just had a call today and this was the question that came up first. And really most times, after giving me a bit of a description of their situation, the area, and the yield of wells the neighbors may have, this is most often the first question a caller will ask after saying they found us on the Web.  With this question I have to think that someone has said to them that water may be tough to find where they are,  or they or their neighbor have had trouble with a new or existing well. 

 If your thinking of drilling in a known dry belt our answer is its' always a good idea but even if it may appear to be a reasonable good groundwater area, we consider our survey a very wise investment in nearly any situation. From doing side by side small lot developments, both big and small, we know that wells only 30-40 meters apart can often vary by more than 100+ % in yield and sometimes depth. If its 20 vs.30 gpm not so big a deal as both are lots of water,  but when its 1 or 2 gpm it is, or might become one the first time you water your garden and try to shower at the same time. When you get into the areas just off the foothills and into mountains, the variance can be even worse, and it becomes possible to miss water by a few inches. 

Though we have seen and experienced this on a few larger projects our best example is a 40 acre property we surveyed  a couple of years ago that was eventually developed into 10 lots in southern AB. Before our survey the clients had drilled on one of the proposed lots and got 2-3 gpm and then proceeded to drill 3-4 fairly deep DRY HOLES on different lots.We are talking thousands of dollars up in smoke. at That point they gave us a call and we surveyed each of the remaining 9 lots with an average of 4 sounding sites per lot the following weekend. After analyzing the data we considered most of the surveyed sites medium to very high risk  for successful well development but as directed by the client we selected potential sites from what data presented as the the best sounding site to drill on, for each lot. They started on the strongest sites and went on from there, best to worse.  The driller obtained water on each of the 9 lots though one lot (the last one) required a 2^nd attempt, due to the pump testing not being better than the 1 gpm required to license that lot for development. The range in depth on the 10 completed wells varied between 27 meters to 90 meters with yields varying from 1 to 9 gpm. In dollars that meant somewhere close to $3000 cost for the 27 meter and the deepest one at close to 10,000.00. Sometimes there are no options and there is only one good shot but note that some of the most expensive holes had the lesser yields. 

This project showed us very clearly how different the yield and depths can turn out in pretty close proximity to one another. It was only a 1/4 of a 1/4 section. That is not that much ground at surface. So yes at the time  we expected some variation but not as much as there was.  That was before this particular survey and this is now.

A survey will most times maximize your return on investment as well as the yield you can acquire.There are instances where we simply say don't drill because the data just didn't show us enough water from the work we did to go after so we save you from the cost of an expensive dry hole. Each sounding site we do for a survey is the next best thing to doing actual test holes with a typical 4- 6 site survey most often costing less than a cost of single 120 foot dry hole.

For our clients the right location for the well on the property may make the difference on being able to have enough water for the house and a cattle operation, water for trees and the garden, vs. barely enough for the house and and keeping a small flower bed watered or simply not being able to subdivide a few acres because water availability isn't proven for the site. Ask a Realtor. Good ones that know acreages, should be able to fully advise you on the particulars for a well on a property and the value a good well can add. If they don't it is something you should check yourself before ever buying a property. Really if you are looking at buying a country property its a good question to test a realtor. If he can't answer, water being as important as it is on the country,  find a different one.

The second Question  asked? ...  "How do you go about it?"

Feel free to call us on our toll-free or email with any questions you might have. 

Spring 2012

The first day of spring calls for an update.  We are waiting on calls from the areas where the frost is out to schedule the start of this seasons runs. From the warm temperatures across the west, particularly in MB, it almost seems like we may have to start further east this year. It is still a little early to make that call but if we do start east of AB it would be the first time in 4-5 years. The equipment is ready though and we fully expect to hit the road a few weeks earlier than last year.

What we will say is that we have surveys booked for right across the west at this point which will bring us into Western MB, South and SE  SK, to North of Saskatoon,  and then along Hwy 16 west to Westlock, AB with surveys all along the way. At this point just not sure of the first direction we will take but getting in stirking distance to most areas. Once we start it will take us about 5-6 weeks to get the rush bookings completed so if you are on the route and want to avoid or reduce mileage charges that we sometimes have to  add thru the summer, book now! We expect it may be late May early June before we can get to the 2^nd round of surveys in SK and MB.

With memories of weather and mountain avalanches forcing us to lose days holed up in hotels  in spring with our busiest time, it’s has become our practice to do the first round thru the central provinces before heading into BC to avoid that. That said it we should get there by mid-May. Kelowna, Kamloops and possibly Williams Lake are on the first round there so far.

The talk on fuel prices is like it gets to be every spring though sounding worse this year with news suggesting and commenting that it may be the highest ever. As always lots of lead time in booking will help avoid excessive mileage charges as it allows us group surveys for economy. 

World Water Day March 22

Find it Here

http://www.unwater.org/worldwaterday/

Gearing Up!

Bookings and interest in surveys is way up for surveys this year in all likelihood due to the lack of snow this winter pretty much across the west. We have nearly twice the bookings now than we had at the end of April last year. Word is the dugouts won’t be near as full in some areas so the farming sector in general, particularly the ranchers, are motivated to develop additional groundwater sources especially when all they have are dugouts. With what appears to a rosy outlook for beef for the next while they simply don’t want to be hampered by water shortages for what are likely to be larger herds then in the past few years.

If they aren’t already aware it’s a good time for farmers and ranchers to check out the Growing Forward Program in Alberta as our surveys, like water well drilling, are again eligible for support as part of farm and ranch water development programs.

With the exceptionally mild weather wouldn’t be surprised to see the frost out in early April or even late March at least in southern AB allowing us to get going on surveys. Twice in the last 7 years we actually started the last week of March here in AB with our latest start being in 2009 with the first survey a week into May. Last year was also nearly as late.

As always do book early to avoid mileage charges. Spring early summer and fall we typically have enough work to get to most areas in western Canada that we can spread the costs and avoid surcharges but with fuel where its’ at again we will be implementing surcharges anytime we have to travel to far. 

The Fall Round Up

Fall is here! With the mountains to the west capped with snow a couple of times these last couple of weeks and with only 8 days left this month, we are starting the last major survey loops of this survey season. The first will be to the  north and west. We are picking up AB surveys on our way North in AB the next few days and then will head west to Fort. St. John, BC. From there we will be heading back through central BC thru Williams Lake, expecting to finish up the BC jobs in the south, at Oliver. When we get back to AB we will get caught up on the local surveys before heading out for what will be the last eastern loop into SK.

Its’ not that surveys come to an abrupt halt as we do continue to work into freeze up and beyond,  but since we do not have the volume after these late season loops we end up starting to add mileage surcharges which depending on the location, can add 10-30 % to the cost of  survey.  It’s enough for some late booking clients choosing to wait till spring in hopes of avoiding at least part of those charges. Most often they do as spring always has enough bookings to take us to most areas in western Canada well able to group surveys for cost effective travel in most of SK, AB and BC. That said we will be upping our minimum survey prices next year.

Though surveys were down a little this year (the economy of course) we again had a remarkable season with drill behinds to date obtaining water for all our clients up to mid-summer. At that point we were hoping to bat a 100% this season. Nearly all our surveys were in tough to find water areas and  turned out as well or better then we hoped.  That was then. As of now even though every site that was drilled this season  actually obtained water, to us we missed estimates on 2 high risk sites, one in August and one in September, as after drilling  the volumes, though within the estimated range, were less than we expected  and not really viable. We were expecting (or hoping for)  the higher side of the estimated range. On all the rest of the drill behinds we were at or above the estimated range on acquired yield  and with drill depths all above the maximum estimated depth to drill.

You will find client testimonials on this blog but feel free to call us for more, as most of our clients are excited to share their success.  We can also provide names of water well drillers that know our work.

Enjoy the fall colors. It could get white soon.

August Update and a newTestimonial

August is here and the nights are getting a little cooler meaning fall is not too far away if not already here. With the rain (and snow) we had from April right thru June it was pretty tough to keep on track, but now with the better weather,  it’s much easier even after taking off 2 weeks in July which was the first summer holiday we have taken in years.

Getting back mid-July we got busy and are now caught up in AB, except for a couple surveys north of Edmonton, with 2 to do on the same trip just into northern BC. With most of AB surveys completed, it clears the way for a trip to SK in the next 2 weeks which will likely be followed by one to cover southern BC jobs  in early September.  Our scheduling is now primarily based on logistics and trying to group enough out of province surveys to try and avoid extra mileage charges to our clients or at least reduce them. Our typically busy fall season should be underway by mid-September.

About a 1/3 of our 2011 clients have already drilled wells on recommended sites this year.  The completed wells all resulted at, or better than the yields estimated, 2 resulted in 50-60% higher yield than estimated,  and none of the wells were drilled deeper than the maximum depth noted in the report.  Considering the areas were all "tough to find water areas", and some of the wells were drilled on properties following failed drill attempts with dry holes, we can’t be more satisfied with the results and we are glad the clients feel the same.

Digging into a 2010 file yesterday while doing research on a nearby site, we came across a testimonial sent by our client earlier this year that we missed posting in spring so we are including it today.You can always call us for others and we are more than happy to provide.

Early Summer ? Update

It’s almost the end of June and it seems like our spring season is just over mostly because we were just now able to get thru round one completing most of the spring early bookings. There are some bookings in SK that were too wet, and 1 or 2 in the North to do but we are now moving on to our summer season

Due to rain we have been able to complete some later bookings in other areas where it wasn’t raining.  Interesting the BC loop early in June was the longest run we worked without rain. We will be surveying in Northern BC and AB most of this week.

We have only 2 or 3 days open for the month of June and beyond are now taking bookings for mid to late July and into August though we allow for rain if it stays this way it could effect us further.. We have a fair number in AB and SK, so the next loop thru BC likely won’t be till early August now. All this is based on the rain being a little less frequent.

Book on line and we will be in touch within a few days to confirm but your priority will be fixed based on the day you sent us the form or the day of your call or the day. Survey Before You Drill!

Here’s to a summer with “balanced” rain fall.

AB and then BC

We are just back from our first round of surveys thru Saskatchewan and as seen in the news, there are areas where it is very wet. The roads, particularly the secondary’s are in pretty rough shape, many closed due to frost heaves and flooding requiring detours. The roads in SK are no doubt in the worse shape I have ever seen them in, slowing travel time to nearly half in some areas.

We have a few surveys to cover off back in Southern Alberta the next week that were previously waiting for frost to be out and then the plan is to head to southern BC by the middle of next week to do the spring bookings there.

Regretfully future bookings in some areas will now have to incur added surcharges due to the fuel price being nearly 30 % higher than last season. Most of our overhead is travel so that kind of increase is just too hard to swallow. To be fair the surcharge will vary by area and the number of bookings we have. Simply when there are more surveys in a given area there is less likelihood of a surcharge. Booking early helps so even though you only want a fall survey, book now as it will allow us to group with nearby bookings.

A reminder to Alberta Farmers and Ranchers to check out the Alberta Growing Forward Program for financial assistance in development of new water sources for your operations. A quick search will bring it up or just call or email and we will send you the link.  It takes some paperwork but the exercise is worth it and helps you set a plan for your operations future water needs.

Happy Planting

May 9th Update

Very happy to say that as of last week we have a few sites behind us. Our first spring survey this year is the latest spring start we have ever had. We are working in Alberta and once done with the rush spring surveys here will move on to tackle those in SK and MB and then BC hopefully getting the rush bookings mostly done across the West by the end of May or first week in June. Then we will start with round 2 and hope to get thru that by the end of June. Hopefully weather improves for us all.

Everyone has been very cooperative this year some clients giving us as much as a 3-6 month window to complete their survey allowing us the the flexibility to pick up surveys on our routes during the season that make sense as well making it easier to avoid mileage surcharges in most areas. Travel costs are our main overhead and it will sure help this year. Most times we will still get booked surveys done in much less time then the window of time given, often within a couple of weeks, but it does improve the economics with the ongoing rise in fuel costs and will help avoid a global increase in or rates, at least in most areas.

2010 Testimonial Nanton, AB

To: gkehler@findwellwater.ca
Subject: Re: Water Wells

We drilled 4 dry holes in the search for water on our new property using 2 different witchers and a couple of educated guesses!

I was sure that there had to be a better way to search for water so I turned to the internet and it was there I discovered Waterfind.

Gary was informed, professional and easy to deal with. He came on the right day at the right time and spent most of the day doing detailed analysis of our property. Once the results had been processed there were 3 recommended sites and we found water in the first one.

We would recommend Waterfind without hesitation as this is technology that will save you money and time!

Sincerely,

David&Sandra Dalzell

Nanton, AB