This week, host Brock Yordy starts out with Rachel Bourne, a driller from Hamilton, Ontario, who goes by BourneToDrill on Instagram. In school, she thought she might go into fashion. Tune in to find out how she got into geotechnical and environmental drilling instead.

This special 50th episode features a wide-ranging discussion from a range of industry veterans and fresh perspectives. Our lineup today features everyone from former National Ground Water Association President Jeff Williams to Garen Ewbank of Ewbank & Associates LLC. Stick around for The Driller columnists Jake Fletcher and Dave Bowers.

Roving anchor Brock Yordy spent some time at the 2023 AHR Expo, Feb. 4-8 in Atlanta. While at the major HVAC event, he talked to several experts about geothermal and opportunities for drillers.

Time for context, folks. An acre-foot of water is 325,851 gallons. In the United States, we use nearly 1 million of those acre-feet every day. It’s kind of a staggering amount, and this week anchor Brock Yordy walks use through where it comes from and where it goes. Then, in this week’s safety segment, we talk about carbon monoxide.

By some estimates, California over about three weeks recently got about 98 million acre-feet of rain. So, why hasn’t that solved the Western drought? Anchor Brock Yordy walks us through the logistics of massive-scale water capture. Then, in this week’s safety segment, we talk about willful misconduct.

This episode again takes us to the Western United States. Anchor Anchor Brock Yordy lays out some of the complex issues surrounding tribal sovereignty and water access amid historic drought.

In this episode, anchor Brock Yordy wraps up a talk with water law expert Jesse Richardson we started last week. Richardson this week gives us the rundown on droughts in the parts of the U.S., and what water scarcity means for the industry and its customers.

This editorial podcast is brought to you by:

In episode 44 of The Driller Newscast, water law expert Jesse Richardson returns to explain the Dec. 30 announcement by the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army of a finalized definition of “waters of the United States” (WOTUS). Richardson and anchor Brock Yordy dive deep into WOTUS and what changes to it might mean for groundwater professionals.

In this episode we reconnect with Margaret Martens, executive director of the Water Systems Council, to talk about the group’s latest State of the Water Well Industry report. Those in the industry can make their voices heard by going to www.watersystemscouncil.org and clicking Take the Survey by Jan. 15, 2023.

Today’s episode takes us to the floor or the Groundwater Week 2022 event Dec. 6-8, 2022, in Las Vegas. Anchor Brock Yordy speaks with Art Steelman of Matrix Drilling Products about sharing industry knowledge, then talks to longtime geothermal advocate Jack DiEnna of the Geothermal National & International Initiative. It’s episode 42.