When you think of the word hero, you think of an individual that was distinguished in war or performed a feat of bravery. There are many heroes, however, whose praises seldom – if ever – are sung. Among this humble group are water well drillers.
I am sure you are wondering why water well drillers could be considered heroes. Well, consider for a moment that you were not located near a clean source of drinking water. What would you do? You would have to travel to find water because you simply could not survive without it. If you were in a densely populated area, others would be travelling to this same water source for drinking, bathing and washing. Water would be a very precious commodity, one worth fighting or perhaps even dying for. The lack of access to clean water would affect your entire nation. As mentioned on a recent Stuff You Should Know podcast, hosts Josh Clark and Charles Bryant pointed out that if your population is spending hours a day travelling to and transporting water, there is no time left for development. Valuable time is used to simply work on survival.
Water well drillers working with the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA)/Sudan have been drilling in the war and drought ravaged regions of the White and Blue Nile States along with the Kordofan State for the last 18 years. In the summer of 2004, three water well drillers on the ADRA/Sudan project were detained and some of their expensive drilling equipment was taken. Although the drillers were later released, much of their equipment was not recovered or was returned too damaged to use.
Even though Americans live in a land where clean drinking water is easy to obtain – so easy in fact that we often waste it – we should never take for granted the role water well drillers play in our lives. In North America they allow this life sustaining fluid to flow for everyone, regardless of income or status. In developing countries, water well drillers literally sustain life, even when it could cost them their own.
American Water Well Drillers knows the value of clean, sustainable drinking water and the price some must pay to obtain it. That is why we use the latest technology to locate quality water sources before the drillers come to dig. We respect water; we respect your right to have access to water, and like our slogan says: we find water.