I recently wrote a post on the The Driller website about a huge find in Kenya. A company called Radar Technologies used satellite imaging to guide drillers to a massive aquifer in the country’s arid north.  

 I can’t tell my readers anything about geothermal heating and cooling. Those who work in that segment of drilling and contracting know how to get installations done. They know geothermal works off the Earth’s constant, natural temperature. They know their systems have a long lifespan. They know ground source heat pumps win on efficiency. 

 Water, the cliché says, is life. I think it’s clear from this month’s story (page 10) out of Baton Rouge, La., where drillers took a clever tactic to protect that city’s freshwater supply. We need freshwater for everything from irrigation to showers, and in some areas, we need creative problem solving to get it. 

 I wrote last month in this space about the new www.thedriller.com. It’s quite a change, and one I think moves in the right direction for serving our readers. This month, I want to write more broadly about technology, because “quite a change” has grown into the norm for so many industries, including the array of sectors in which drilling contractors work. 

 The basics of drilling, like the basics of writing, don't change much. Drillers poke a hole in the ground, and useful things come out—water, energy or minerals. Likewise, writers put fingers to keyboard (or pen to paper) and, hopefully, useful things come out. Those basic mechanics remain relatively constant, and have since people have sunk wells in the ground or attempted to write the next great novel.