Water Well Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/592194
"I t's so rewarding," says Williams, vice president of Spafford and Sons in Jericho, Vermont. "When you're a volunteer and you can go out and do some- thing for someone—that's a feeling I hold in really high regard." In his local community he has served as school director, justice of the peace, and as a member of his town's bicentennial planning community. Williams volunteered in 2012 with Bill Frey, MGWC, from Frey Well Drilling in Albany, New York, to drill water wells for local villages in Sierra Leone, a small country along Africa's northwest coast. "I learned about human nature, about patience, and how difficult it is when things are right at the end of your finger- tips," Williams explains. "It was so different from anything I've experienced in my life, but it was so rewarding." Supplies were harder to get, including gasoline. "(Each village) had about a 500-gallon tank. There are only three villages that even had gas stations, so there was only about 1500 gallons of gas in a 40-mile radius," Williams says. "So if that truck broke down, your supply line was cut off." Williams had to search three villages to find gas on one of his last days to fill up his 100-gallon contractor's tank. At the third village he finally found a supply, but people there would only give him 30 gallons. "I burned almost the amount out of the pickup to go find it as I did to put back in it," he figures. "I put 10 gallons in the truck and 20 gallons in the tank so I could make sure I could get back to the rig with some." Even though the drilling was often difficult, Williams is already planning to go back. "When I drill a well (at home) for someone and you get a good water supply, you're taking care of that one supply for that one house," he says. "In Africa, one functioning water well benefits thousands of people. Hundreds of families would line up at these to get their fresh water. The effort-to- reward ratio is tremendous." Now Williams is giving back to the groundwater industry as the incoming president of the National Ground Water Asso- ciation. He will assume the position at the 2015 Groundwater Expo and Annual Meeting, December 15-17 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The early days Williams got his start in the groundwater industry like many by working alongside his father as a child. In high school, he'd spend a week at times during his summer break drilling with his father. "I've always been mechanical, so it's something that I took to," he tells. "I'm also a strategist and a problem solver, and water well drilling is a perfect fit for that." When he graduated in 1980, he joined Spafford and Sons, the same company his father worked for. By 1984, they bought half of the company. Williams, his brother, uncle, and father purchased the other half of the company three years later, keeping the Spafford and Sons name. "It was just the four of us until we got things off the ground," says Williams. "We were working six or seven days a week from dawn until dark." He remembers times underneath a drill rig at 11 p.m. get- ting it ready to run the next morning and being up at 4 a.m. the next day to make sure the water tank was full. "I didn't get too many hours of sleep then," he admits. Today, Spafford and Sons does residential and commercial wells, pump installation and servicing, and water conditioning and treatment from three locations with 14 employees. It also diversified into geothermal work in the 1990s. Williams spends most of his time helping run the business today, but still likes to work on the back of a rig when he can. "I really enjoy listening to those big engines run," Williams likes to say. "And you're creating a water supply for a house. I know in my mind that's a really good water supply, so the satisfaction of a job well done keeps me coming back." That's why his favorite job was a borehole field for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Caanan, Vermont. There wasn't any cell service and he was all alone with a 565 hp Caterpillar. "I was up there for several weeks in peace and quiet," Williams calls to mind. "I didn't have to worry about emails or phone calls. I was just there to do my job. It reminded me of simpler times." Association experience Volunteering for state and local groundwater associations is similar to volunteering to drill wells in Africa in at least one GIVING BACK Incoming NGWA President Jeffrey Williams, MGWC, CVCLD, gives back to his community and industry. By Jennifer Strawn WILLIAMS continues on page 48 WWJ November 2015 47 Twitter @WaterWellJournl