Layne Christensen Co. recently announced its acquisition of Collector Wells International Inc. (CWI), a specialty water services firm that designs and constructs water supply systems with yields ranging from less than 1 million gallons per day to more than 100 million gallons per day. The management team of CWI has been together for more than 25 years; it had combined revenues of approximately $6.5 million in the previous 12 months and brings in approximately $9.6 million in current contracts. The acquisition was financed through normal revolving bank credit lines.
Key among the water supply systems provided by this move are radial collector wells, seawater collector wells, fixed-screen surface water intakes, in-filtration galleries/riverbank infiltration and hydrogeological investigations, including riverbank filtration studies and water supply development feasibility studies. Radial collector wells (often referred to as Ranney wells) offer many unique solutions to a variety of water supply needs. When properly sited and constructed in alluvial aquifers near streams, rivers and lakes, these units can yield up to 50 million gallons per day from a single well.
