20 NOVEMBER 2026 WorldWide Drilling Resource® by Stephen Lingenfelter, submitted by Gary Bartholomew Nacimiento Nuevo Paraíso (Springs of New Paradise) is an unforgettable community of about 250 people. Its historical water source is a gravity-fed spring in the neighboring country of Belize, and has led to several disputes with local soldiers patrolling the border. We had never before been able to work in that border area, but after several meetings with the local municipality and other federal government agencies, we were granted permission to drill a well. We coordinated the well drilling to start several days before a church outreach group was coming and hoped to have a finished well with our 22W cable tool rig while the group was providing dental, medical, basic mechanical repair of small engines, and children’s programming. While filling a water tank one day, I dropped my suction hose on the ground and let the water drain out of it. Two nearby kids instinctively dropped to the ground and began drinking the water from the pipe. This is the level of need in this community. However, we quickly hit some very hard formation and knew the well would take a little longer. Three weeks later, we had finally made 400 feet of open, hard rock hole, and still had no water. Historically, if we don’t have water at this point, it is pretty unlikely to have a good well, and the lack of power in the community makes pumping the water more challenging. So we made the tough decision to move to the football field and see if we did any better. The new location proved to be a much different formation, extremely soft limestone which was constantly on the verge of collapsing. We rarely need more than 40 feet of casing here, but this well forced a couple trips to the yard for Eddy, our Guatemalan drill operator, to get more casing. At 145 feet, he hit a band of hard rock which stopped his casing from driving any farther, but did not stop the instability of the well. The blessing of water was found at 160 feet, but the added water did not make the well any more stable. In fact, it wasn’t long until his bailer was stuck in the well. Thankfully, it only cost him another day of work and another five-hour roundtrip drive on muddy dirt roads for a fishing tool. Continuing to drill or bail with our available tooling became almost impossible, but we had not been able to confirm how much water we had. Eddy decided to line the well and test it at 190 feet. This was one of those projects you really want to just be done with, but also really want to make a good well for the people who desperately need the water. Some projects just feel like they are never going to end and this was one of those. The well proved to be underdeveloped due to the drilling conditions and soon plugged his test pump, requiring yet another trip for more tools to clean the well out and see what we really had. Skeptically hoping for the best, the pump was reinstalled and the well tested at 3.75 gallons per minute. Not what we had hoped for, but enough for a hand pump or small solar system and tank. Many people in these rural communities may only use three gallons a day for all of their water needs. Many wells are certainly much easier to drill, and with much greater results. Only a few weeks before, Eddy finished a 200-footdeep well which tested at greater than 80 gallons per minute. And yet, the 3.75 gallons a minute well that cost us a month of work, will always be seen as a blessing from the Lord, a blessing to those of us who were able to help, and a blessing to those who will continue to receive lifesaving water. 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 Water 46th Annual UGWA Conference & Expo January 6-8, 2027 CasaBlanca Resort Mesquite, Nevada Wednesday, January 6th 10:00am Shotgun Start Golf Tournament 6:00pm - 9:00pm Vendor Setup Thursday, January 7th 8:00am - 11:30am Skeet Shoot 8:00am - 11:30am Vendor Setup 12:00pm Registration & Displays Open 1:30pm Welcome and Announcements 1:35pm - 4:00pm CEU Classes 4:30pm Vendor Social 5:30pm Banquet and Scholarship Auction Friday, January 8th 7:00am Breakfast / Vendor Visits 8:00am - 11:15am CEU Classes 11:15am General Membership Meeting & Board Elections 12:00pm Lunch and Raffle Drawings 1:00pm CEU Class 2:00pm Vendor Visits Drawing Conference Adjourned utahgroundwater.org
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