Water Well Journal
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/692787
"All Nine Alive" was a follow-up feature story which appeared in the December 2002 issue. Put together by WWJ 's staff, it contained a package of stories on some of the water well con- tractors and manufacturers who worked around the clock at the site so all of the miners could be rescued. The "To the Rescue!" story won WWJ its first APEX Grand Award for Writing. This is the highest honor given by Communications Concepts Inc. and WWJ remains the only groundwater publication to ever earn such an honor. The publication earned a second APEX Grand Award in 2010 when current WWJ Editor Thad Plumley won for an editorial published in 2009. "One of my favorite memories was writing the article on the water well drillers' involvement in the rescue of the trapped Pennsylvania miners," Ross says. "It showed the world how great our industry was in coming together, working behind the scenes with little media recognition. I truly enjoyed work- ing in the groundwater industry. I have since learned it's rare to encounter such genuine, friendly, and hardworking people on a daily basis." Different Approaches WWJ has always covered all aspects of the groundwater industry and even tried to make sure readers are having some fun too! For years in the 1950s, Kittie Renner wrote "Over the Coffee Cups," which The NGWA CEO Looks Back McCray began his career writing and editing for WWJ. I recall going to work for the then-Water Well Journal Publishing Co. in 1979 as an assistant editor. In addition to researching and writing articles for the monthly magazine, I also handled the classified advertising section, edited the membership newsletter, and a few other tasks. One of the challenges I found early on was people, manufacturers, and the media would call into the magazine or the Association seeking market data. There was very little readily available, so I took it upon myself to go through every trade magazine found in our National Ground Water Information Center and find market data, such as how many pumps estimated to be shipped, numbers of wells drilled, wages paid to drill crews, and so on. After a few months, I had compiled a few hundred pages of historical data which we bundled up and sold as a service from the Association. That hunger for data led me to start the Water Well Journal Index of Economic Indicators, which we compiled quarterly for a while, but faded away after I left for work at Franklin Electric. Franklin Electric's Marketing Director, Larry Bechler, hired me after informally inter- viewing me at a trade show in Mexico where I was promoting the Spanish-language annual edition of Water Well Journal. While the 1983 move to Indiana was disruptive to my wife and our newborn son, the experience there was terrific and I have no regrets. I think the best thing I ever wrote for Water Well Journal was a long piece on the Ogallala Aquifer. Lots of research and interviews. I was striving for a balance of perspectives. It was probably an unusual piece for a trade magazine, but the motivation was to expose the professions to the sometimes competing challenges of groundwater production and groundwater management. One of my personal favorite stories was a profile of a fellow named Carl Cahill who was fighting the use of asbestos cement pipe in Virginia. In interviewing him, I learned he had gone to battle over this issue time and time again. So, for my lead into the story, I quoted Shakespeare's play, Henry V, act III, scene I, in which the opening lines read: "Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our English dead!" I remembered the Association's executive director at the time, Jay Lehr, saying he never thought he would read Shakespeare in the Water Well Journal! —By Kevin McCray, CAE 1994 The August issue features suppliers revealing how the lead-in-pumps issue impacts their sales and speculate on long-term industry effects. 1995 NGWA becomes sole stockholder of Ground Water Publishing Co. 1996 January issue celebrates 50 years of WWJ. 1998 Kevin McCray authors article in April issue on state of the groundwater industry titled "Where It Is, Where It's Going". 2000 Celebrates 100 years of drilling with a two-part feature starting with December issue that finished in January 2001. 2001 The widely read monthly column Engineering Your Business by Ed Butts, PE, CPI, begins. It is still published today. 2002 Publisher and long-time editor Anita Stanley retires after 30 years with WWJ. 2001 WWJ begins running John L'Espoir's Transfer of Technology. The 30 columns become an NGWA Press book. WWJ July 2016 31 Twitter @WaterWellJournl 1991 Seventeen years after first being mentioned in WWJ, NWWA becomes NGWA. 1992 The Water Well Journal Publishing Co. changes its name to the Ground Water Publishing Co. 70 YEARS continues on page 32