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 2nd 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.
