36 NOVEMBER 2023 WorldWide Drilling Resource® www.starironworks.com 257 Caroline Street Punxsutawney, PA 15767 800-927-0560 • 814-427-2555 Fax: 814-427-5164 SERVING THE WATER WELL INDUSTRY Serving the Drilling Industry by Tim Rasmussen One of the difficult aspects of drilling successful water wells in Guatemala is the fact the water level in the ground can vary significantly from season to season and from time to time based on the amount of local rainfall. A well in one season may produce a satisfactory amount of water, but may not produce any water four or five months later. Keeping track of these variations is difficult if not impossible because there are no records of the static water levels at any time in a particular well and no central record keeping agency. Villagers just live day to day and season to season. When there is water, they use it; when there is not, they suffer and get by as best they can. As readers may know, we have begun using the LifePump™ which is a new design of hand pump made by Design Outreach. It has several features which make it particularly suitable to the situation in Guatemala. First, the pumps last a long time. Second, they require less maintenance. Third, they can pump water from deeper depths than traditional hand pumps. The only downside is they cost more. One of the features available on a LifePump is an electronic device which keeps track of how much the pump is used and has a satellite link whereby the data can be accessed and downloaded from some other location. It gives a very accurate record of how much the pump is being used at a particular location. Recently, Gary received an e-mail from Abe Wright, the chief technology officer of Design Outreach. He had accessed the data from a pump installed in the village of Samarack. He reported the pump had been seeing very high usage for about three months. The device had recorded usage rates as high as over 23 hours in one day. He sent Gary a graph [image on this page] of the usage rates for the last four months. This data shows the need which exists in this region of Guatemala. The fact that people would stand in line and use a pump nearly 24 hours a day is a testament to its importance in their lives. If you would like to help, contact Gary Bartholomew at 509-939-1941 Tim michele@worldwidedrillingresource.com WTR
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