8 AUGUST 2026 WorldWide Drilling Resource® by Gary Bartholomew, Stephen Lingenfelter, and Tim Rasmussen, submitted by Gary Bartholomew In the last article, we had just made the hard decision to abandon the hole at Buenos Aires. We then hired someone we know to do a well site subterranean study. He found multiple caverns underground in the area and recommended we drill in another location. We followed his advice and drilled in the new location, but at about 50 feet, found an even larger cavern than the first. The caverns have presented so many problems in the past, that this second hole was also abandoned - thankfully before any tooling was lost. The villagers were getting nervous as the weeks went by with no positive results and asked several times if we were going to quit. They were relieved when we said no and moved to a third location which seemed likely and could serve the village. They were very happy with the drill crew and brought them food and cool drinks to show their appreciation. They watched carefully and tried to keep the crew as comfortable as they could. They put up some shade for the workers and protected the rig at night and over the weekends. They made sure nothing was stolen. The drilling of this third well hit problems at about 160 feet. The cable or the bailer got snagged there, but with some advice from one of the volunteers, they got it free and continued on down, deeper and deeper, without encountering any caverns, but alas, also without water. At about 300 feet, our drill operator Eddy began to get discouraged. Many people were telling him it was no use and several times he was ready to quit, but the need of the people and the efforts they had made to get the road put in, kept him going. The drilling went smoothly with no more caverns, and finally at 400 feet got to some water. It was clean and colder than usual, with apparently very little iron. He went on down to 460 feet. This was all the cable he had on the rig, so he could go no farther. This would have to do. They let the well sit for a day or two and the static water level came up to about 369 and stabilized. They estimated it at about 1.5 gallons per minute. We had hoped for more flow than this, but went ahead and installed a Grundfos solar pump and a plastic cistern, and began collecting water. The Grundfos pump is a very good unit and with good solar panels, will pump water from very great depths. A very useful feature of this pump is it will work at any available voltage. So even on cloudy days, the pump will bring up water. The villagers were excited and happy. Finally, they had water they can trust not to make them sick. They planned a large well dedication ceremony. A young bull was slated to be the “fatted calf” for slaughter for the ceremony. (Usually, it is chicken soup and tortillas.) This was a real fiesta. Once again, the blessings of the Good Lord in the form of volunteers, donors, contributors, and villagers came together to change the lives of some folks in a very remote village of Guatemala. Thank you for your help and encouragement. If you would like to help, contact Gary Bartholomew at 509-939-1941. Gary Gary Bartholomew may be contacted via e-mail to michele@worldwidedrillingresource.com Materials for the kids. WTR Booth 205
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDk4Mzk=