WorldWide Drilling Resource

WorldWide Drilling Resource ® is proud to be a member of these international associations. New Zealand Drillers Federation, Inc. www.nzdrillersfederation.co.nz Ontario Groundwater Association Tel: 519-245-7194 Fax: 519-245-7196 ogwa@ogwa.ca • www.ogwa.ca Australian Drilling Industry Association adia@adia.com.au British Columbia Ground Water Assn. Tel: 604-530-8934 Fax: 604-530-8934 secretary@bcgwa.org • www.bcgwa.org Alberta Water Well Drilling Association Tel: 780-386-2335 awwda@xplornet.com Atlantic Water Well Association Tel: 888-242-4440 Fax: 902-435-0089 nsgwa@ns.aliantzinc.ca • www.nsgwa.ca 45 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® FEBRUARY 2015 Water for Life International by Tim Rasmussen Today is November 5, and when I check the ship tracker to find out where our container is located, I find the ship, Veronique , is still at the loading dock in Seattle. The Veronique is to take our container on the first sea leg of its journey to our shop near Poptun, Guatemala. I should say, I hope the Veronique will take our container south. So far, the shipment of this container has been plagued with trouble and has not yet left the country! First, the driver didn’t know how to drive the truck, then he did not get the container to the dock within 48 hours, even though it is six hours away. The container missed the ship and the booking was “rolled” to the next vessel, the Veronique . The Veronique was to depart Seattle on October 29, but it did not arrive there until November 2, and has been in the loading status for three days. I think the cause of the late arrival in Seattle was a labor problem at the Los Angeles/ Long Beach (California) port that slowed traffic there for several days. The media reported a long line of ships moored in the harbor waiting to unload. I just checked the ship tracker again and see the Veronique has moved away from the pier and is headed out of Seattle. I checked the MSC (shipping company) Web site and can see our container is in fact on the Veronique . The next port of call is Oakland, California. We will see how long the ship is in Oakland. At least the container is moving after three weeks stuck on the pier in Seattle. Our volunteer drill crew is making plans, and Gary is working out the sched- ules. We will operate three drilling rigs again this year. We have several vil- lages lined up so far, and when Gary is there, he will scout out some of the sites for the first wells and make plans for the following ones. Last year, we drilled 17 wells. That brought our total to 67 wells in use. Pat and Marilee Clark will start our work this year. They will go down in late December and prepare the facilities and get all the machines up and running. This is a big job. There is much to be done before the first wells are started in early January. We will work until the end of March. You should understand that all of the above is what we HOPE will hap- pen. We have learned to do the best we can, but there are many uncertain- ties. We cannot control when and how things work out, but one thing we have learned is they DO work out. The good Lord has his hand in this project. Water for Life exists because of people who have a heart to care for others and to help them by bringing clean water to those who have no decent water to drink. Thank you for helping us. If you would like to help, please contact Gary Bartholomew at 509-466-5075 or 509-939-1941 Tim Tim Rasmussen may be contacted via e-mail at michele@ worldwidedrillingresource.com Veronique photo by Andrew Mackinnon courtesy of maritime-connector.com.