Ottawa – In a letter report to the governments of Canada and the United States, the International Joint Commission makes five recommendations urging actions to keep flame retardants such as PBDE from entering the waters of the Great Lakes.

Dartmouth, N.S. – A group of 55 high school and university students are nurturing Nova Scotia’s clean environment and economy this summer, thanks to a leadership program administered by the Clean Foundation in Dartmouth. The Dartmouth Tribune reports. | READ MORE

Westerville, OH – The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services, recently released its toxicology report on four different PFAS chemicals. The report suggests human health risks can occur at levels significantly lower than current federal government recommendations, reports the National Ground Water Association. | READ MORE

Reston, VA – Water use across the United States reached its lowest recorded level in 45 years in 2015, indicates a new report from the United States Geological Survey.

New Brunswick – According to some scientists and conservationists, tree-shorn areas in New Brunswick contributed to the record flooding along the St. John River this spring and may be affecting ground water there and in other areas of Canada. CBC News reports. | READ MORE

Exeter, NH – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will host a public meeting on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) on June 25 in Exeter, N.H., as a followup to its PFAS National Leadership Summit held in May. The National Ground Water Association reports. | READ MORE

Carpinteria, CA – Carpinteria Valley Water District in California is poised to vote on whether to conduct environmental studies on a project that would take wastewater treated at Carpinteria Sanitary District and pump it into the valley's ground water basin. CoastalView.com reports. | READ MORE

Ottawa – The country's plastics makers have set their own targets for keeping all plastic out of Canadian landfills by 2030. CTV News reports. | READ MORE

Odessa, WA – So much water has been taken from the Odessa Aquifer in Washington state that, in some areas, its water levels have dropped 10 feet per year. Although the aquifer is close to gone, it still is being tapped for farming and other uses. The Spokesman-Review reports. | READ MORE

Chicago – Researchers found no significant link between ground water lithium exposure and risk for bipolar disorder or dementia after adjusting for county-level demographics and health care resources, according to a research letter published in JAMA Psychiatry. Healio Psychiatric Annals reports. | READ MORE

Cavendish, P.E.I. – If it wasn’t for a single rainfall event, Robert K. Irving, the president of Cavendish Farms, says the 2017 potato growing season could have been a disaster. Irving is touting the use of supplemental irrigation when rainfall isn’t enough. The Charlottetown Guardian reports. | READ MORE

Ottawa – The governments of Canada and Yukon are investing more than $594 million over the next decade in shared funding for infrastructure projects under the Investing in Canada plan. The federal government is providing a total of over $445 million, up to 75 per cent of eligible expenditures. The projects supported through this agreement will be cost-shared with the territorial government, municipalities, First Nations and other partners, according to a news release by Infrastructure Canada. This higher cost share takes into consideration the unique challenges faced by the territories. Indigenous recipients can use additional federal funding from other sources to a maximum federal contribution of 100 per cent on projects, the release said.Among the funding is $207,065,850 to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions; increased access to potable water; increased capacity to reduce or remediate soil and air pollutants; increased capacity to treat and manage wastewater and storm water; increased structural and natural capacity to adapt to climate change impacts, natural disasters and extreme weather events. The territorial government, municipalities, First Nations and other partners will contribute $69,021,950 in funding.

By now, everyone in the industry probably knows this story, but just in case. In September 2015, in West Vancouver’s expensive, densely urban Kerrisdale neighbourhood, a homeowner contracted a homebuilder who contracted a drilling company to install a geothermal heating system.

Toronto – VersaDrill Canada has worked with Groupe Rouillier and RIDD to produce an Inner Tube Puller for mineral drilling that could potentially have applications for geotechnical, geothermal or core drilling.

You provide high-quality wells and servicing, but are you meeting your customers’ less tangible need for information and peace of mind? We spoke with a ground water educator, established drilling companies and a satisfied would-be customer to get insight into what constitutes great customer service.

Barbados – Barbados stands to gain significantly more foreign exchange from the sale of desalinated water being produced on the island, says the chairman of the company expanding a reverse osmosis plant on the island. The desalination facility is capable of supplying drinking water to about 20 per cent of the population, the Barbados Advocate reports. | READ MORE

West Chester, PA – The Schramm engineering group is upgrading its existing T450 rigs to use a CAT C15 ACERT, Tier 4 compliant engine.

Newport, WA – A third-generation water well driller discusses the ups and downs of the job as well as public perception about the business. The Spokesman-Review reports. | READ MORE

South Jordan, UT – The "Village Drill," a model envisioned by John Renouard and developed by Brigham Young University students, is human-powered and capable of drilling up to 295 feet into the ground – deep enough to reach clean, unpolluted ground water almost anywhere in the world. The Deseret News reports. | READ MORE

Qualicum Beach, B.C. – Ken Fyfe of Fyfe Well Drilling in Qualicum Beach, B.C., has worn many hats during some 43 years as a water-well driller. Fyfe shared with Ground Water Canada photos of his recently restored steam drill rig made by Keystone Company in Beaver Falls, Penn.

Toronto and San Bernardino County, CA – NewCastle Gold recently reported on the water supply drilling program for its Castle Mountain gold project in San Bernardino County, Calif.

Ground Water Canada visited Fleming College to see what students in the Resources Drilling and Blasting program were up to.

Alberta – After years of being a magnet for job seekers, Canada’s oilpatch is turning into a bit of a no-go place — and that’s making a recovery harder. The Calgary Herald reports. | READ MORE

Princeton, NJ – A new report breaks down the international water well drilling rig market by size, share, trends, industry growth, application, and other characteristics through 2022.

Moncton, N.B. – The federal government will invest almost $51 million to help New Brunswickers make energy-efficient upgrades to their homes, businesses, and industrial operations.

Montreal – The Canadian GeoExchange Coalition and its members welcomed the news that New Brunswick Power has released a range of energy efficiency and renewable energy incentives including for GeoExchange (a.k.a. geothermal heat pump) technology.

Peterborough, Ont. – Fleming College will install a new geothermal heating and cooling system at its Sutherland Campus to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions thanks to funding from the provincial government.

Montreal –­ The Canadian GeoExchange Coalition welcomed the news that the Quebec government will continue its RénoClimat incentive program through to 2021.

Calgary – Epoch Energy Development Inc. will lead the Front-End Engineering Design study to assess the feasibility of the Geothermal District Energy System in Hinton, Alta., with the help of $1.2 million in joint funding from Western Economic Diversification Canada, the Government of Alberta and Alberta Innovates.

Oshawa, Ont. – Durham College has received $14.7 million in funding from the Ontario government through the Greenhouse Gas Campus Retrofits Program, including $9.1 million to fund its Simcoe Geothermal Field project at the Oshawa campus.

Toronto – Ontario’s new homeowner rebate program was front and centre and the mood was positive at the Ontario Geothermal Association’s conference and trade show, which featured speakers on many aspects of the geo-exchange industry.

Nanaimo, B.C. – A Nanaimo, B.C., geo-exchange project will turn a long-abandoned mine into the heat source for a new Vancouver Island University buildings. CBC News reports. | READ MORE

Calgary – The Pembina Institute, a non-profit think-tank, has released a report outlining Alberta’s potential and barriers to the development of a geothermal energy and heating industry.

St. John's – A new hotel in downtown St. John's has a number of ecologically sustainable features such as geothermal heating and cooling powered by the ocean.

Riverhead, N.Y. – Miller Environmental Group has completed the geothermal bore drilling and installed the community loop field system for an innovative project providing heating and cooling to 10 homes in a town in Long Island, N.Y.

Montreal – The Canadian GeoExchange Coalition announced that work has begun to create a detailed resource map of ground thermal conductivity at depths up to 200 metres (650 feet) in one of Canada’s most densely populated areas.

Waterloo, Ont. – Progress on new artificial intelligence technology could make monitoring at water treatment plants cheaper and easier and help safeguard public health, suggests researchers at the University of Waterloo.

Cambridge, MA – Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have found that small water basins formed in humid climates are heavily shaped by the local ground water, which acts to carve out shorter, wider basins. MIT News reports. | READ MORE

Ottawa – The guidance document Canadian Soil Quality Guidelines for the Protection of Environment and Human Health: Zinc is now posted on the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment website. | READ MORE

Springfield, IL – The Illinois Department of Public Health has published a fact sheet that provides answers to questions about methane in drinking water. The document, in web and PDF formats, explains what methane is, how it can enter ground water, how it can affect your health and what you can do to prevent or reduce exposure to it. | READ MORE

The drilling of a well is a welcomed act for many people as it provides the necessity of water for their home or cottage. In Canada we are fortunate to have an abundance of ground water that can provide a reliable, year-round source of water for many municipalities and rural owners.

Sudbury, Ont. – The Canadian government has invested in a water filtration system made by Activated White Ltd. of Sudbury, Ont.

Salt Lake City, UT – Researchers from the University of Utah, Columbia University and Ecuador have published a study analyzing how contaminants – including bacteria and viruses – move through ground water and how decorative nanoscience could help water managers better prepare for and respond to outbreaks caused by rain and floods. University of Utah News reports. | READ MORE

Downers Grove, IL – The Grundfos Technical Institute has released three new quick tip YouTube videos about seal replacement.

Hyannis, MA – Scientists working on a research project on Cape Cod to study contaminants in drinking water updated the community recently in Hyannis. The project aims to understand how the contaminants, or PFASs, impact the public through well water, determine where they are coming from and find ways to limit exposure. CapeCod.com reports. | READ MORE

Minnetonka, MN – Summit Envirosolutions' ground water visualization tools were recognized with an innovation application award at the recent Digi International Global IoT Conference in Minneapolis, Minn.

New Zealand – Scientists are testing whether woodchips and mānuka trees, known for their honey with anti-microbial properties, can help clean New Zealand's waterways. Stuff Science reports. | READ MORE

Peace Region, B.C. – Geoscience BC has published the final report on a project that acquired, interpreted and shared new baseline scientific information about ground water resources in the Peace region of northeastern British Columbia.

Falmouth, Cornwall, UK – Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Group has released two larger models of process pumps for industrial, environmental and food industry applications

Ability Pump & Equipment of Calgary is the first Canadian supplier of the Universal Hydrant Boot, manufactured by Davis UHB. The Boot is designed to be installed on the bottom of a yard hydrant, eliminating the need to use gravel to install a yard hydrant.

Georgetown, Ont. – Solinst Canada has released the LevelVent, a vented version of its Levelogger water level and temperature datalogger that shares many of the Levelogger's features, but does not require a Barologger.

New from Heron Instruments is the dipper-See Examiner. The company is taking pre-orders for its vertical down-hole inspection camera.

Franklin Electric recently introduced the Inline 1100 SpecPAK pressure-boosting system to provide a simplified way to select a packaged system for boosting water pressure in applications requiring more than one pump.

The Snap Sampler system from QED Environmental Systems is designed to provide high sampling accuracy while reducing sampling program costs.

QED Environmental Systems’ Sample Pro portable pump, the first pump developed specifically to deliver low-flow sampling to sites requiring portable pumps, has been tested to be free of PFC, a ground water contaminant.

The Solinst STS Edge Telemetry System lets users monitor high- or low-level water conditions with alarm notification capabilities.

Merrill Manufacturing Company has released four no-lead bronze insert fittings to accommodate well contractor needs.

Franklin Electric now offers its Little Giant Aeration System in both half- and one-horsepower models, providing multiple options for contractors to improve the beauty and biological health of larger-sized bodies of water.

Nivus has developed a transit time transmitter to provide continuous, long-term flow measurements via smartphone in harsh weather conditions.

Many people think of customer service as a department. My belief is that customer service is a philosophy, not a department. It should be embraced by every employee, regardless of their job and how long they’ve been there.

When Ground Water Canada talked with Friesen Drillers in 2003, it became clear the Manitoba company was rooted in innovation and a strong work ethic, and growing – even after 100-plus years.

This column was conceived while sitting in view of the lake at our cottage association’s annual meeting, amid a relaxing, warm June breeze.

Westerville, OH – The National Ground Water Association is urging drillers to remember the motto “Look Up and Live" after two employees of a drilling crew near Colorado Springs, Colo., died recently when their rig struck overhead power lines, fatally electrocuting them. | READ MORE

If you sell products and services that people buy because they have to, then read on. After over 25 years of advising companies that deal primarily with reluctant customers, I’ve developed these four strategies for helping customers feel better about spending money on grudge purchases.

Calgary – CIPHEx West will feature a program of seminars led by experts from across North America.

Marketing your water-well business has never been easier with free online tools and platforms literally at your fingertips. The trick is knowing which social media and website platforms are right for you.

Washington, DC – The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works held a hearing on April 18 on the appropriate role of states and the federal government in regulating ground water. The hearing comes on the heels of several significant court cases, as well as action by the U.S. EPA to seek public comment on discharges of pollutants via “hydrologically connected” sources. The NGWA reports. | READ MORE

The motto of Blaine Matuga’s company, Central Interior Pumps of Kamloops, B.C., really says it all: “We’re protectors of ground water.”

Westerville, OH – The National Ground Water Association is seeking proposals for conference presentations, workshops, technical sessions, poster presentations and field trips at Groundwater Week Dec. 3-6, 2018.

Toronto – Being “human” will ensure resiliency in an era of technological disruption, and skills mobility will become a new competitive advantage, says a new research paper from RBC.