Water Well Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/643500
Water Wells and Common Cent$ is a new column by Ronald B. Peterson of Baroid Industrial Drilling Products. Peterson has been involved in the drilling industry for more than 36 years and worked in various positions relating to the industrial drilling fluids market. He was the 2015 National Ground Water Research and Educational Foundation's McEllhiney Lecturer, presenting a talk titled "Drilling Fluids: A Common Sense Approach" to thousands of people. He earned the National Ground Water Association's highest honor, the Ross L. Oliver Award, in 2013. His column will focus on drilling fluids and other issues at the drill site. T he groundwater industry has been most kind to me. The honor of receiving the National Ground Water Association's Ross L. Oliver Award in 2013, followed a year later by being offered the opportunity to be the National Ground Water Research and Educational Foundation's William A. McEllhiney Lecturer, and then being hosted by so many great organizations as the lecturer in 2015 was amazing. Traveling and meeting with many of you while presenting the lecture was truly an awesome experience. The year culminated with my wife, Linda, and I in Paris on our way home from Valencia, Spain, when the attacks on the Stade de France and the Bataclan concert hall occurred. This was the only trip Linda was able to join me and it turned out to be a most memorable experience. We had arranged a one-day layover in Paris to see some of the sights and were in the hotel when the news broke on CNN (the only channel on television in English), followed by an email from the security department at Halliburton stating I had been identified as a Halliburton employee in Paris and asking me to give my status and location within the hour. We got up the next morning to find an entire city on lock- down and full of police and armed soldiers. We were staying at the base of the Arch de Defense (about 14 miles from the stadium and 7 miles from the concert hall). It looked like we were not going to be able to see anything— pretty disheartening to both Linda and me. Fortunately, I worked with hotel personnel to have a cab pick us up, stay with us, and take us so we could at least see a few of the sights even though we could not go inside any- place. We ended up being able to see the Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, and some other things along the route. We have a picture of Linda in the common area of the Louvre with only a few other people there. We have another of the two of us with the Eiffel Tower in the background and not another soul in the picture! We were able to return home with no other problems. It was an unforgettable ending to an amazing year. I would like to again thank the McEllhiney committee for selecting me for the opportunity to be the 2015 McEllhiney Lecturer, NGWA for supporting it in the decision, Franklin Electric for providing funding for the McEllhiney Lecture program, Halliburton–Baroid IDP for allowing me to take the time to follow through with the commitment, and you—the organizations and members of the industry—for hosting and supporting the lectures. So What Now? Where do we go from here? I could fade into obscurity, but that probably wouldn't work. It was suggested I separate the 2015 McEllhiney Lecture into the multiple individual topics touched on in the lecture and expand them into individual articles providing more detail. I'm going to give that a try and that brings us here— a new bimonthly column in Water Well Journal. This column will coincide with the original goal of NGWA as stated by CEO Kevin McCray, CAE, of gathering informa- tion, organizing it, and disseminating it to the industry. As I have said many times, you the members of the indus- try have taught and continue to teach me much of what I know. Continuing in that manner, this will not be my column but our column. I will solicit additional input from many of you from time to time to make sure we include the most current, accurate, and complete information available. While we will use my McEllhiney Lecture as the basis for some of the content, it will not be the sole factor. We will look for other pertinent topics we can address. I encourage you to submit questions you would like to have addressed in this space. RONALD B. PETERSON WATER WELLS AND COMMON CENT$ WHERE DO WE GO NOW? Let's dive into some drilling topics and move our industry forward. You cannot simply maintain position. You are either moving forward or sliding backward. I prefer to continue to move forward. 48 March 2016 WWJ waterwelljournal.com