This begins a series of columns on water conditioning and problems of water quality I have encountered in my career in southeast Michigan. First, I want to write a little bit about a stopgap method of getting soft water that carried on for many, many years.

This particular column is going to be about the recently held 2017 NGWA Groundwater Week and the upcoming 2018 MGWA (Michigan Ground Water Association) Conference.

Like all contractors, I have a fleet of vehicles — actually, a rather small one that I take great pride in. I have a reputation of taking good care of my vehicles and the tools I need to do jobs.

Recently, I had a couple of difficult jobs where I had to realize my own limitations.

In the first two columns I wrote about this job, we attempted to spud down a 4-inch well on a piece of property where a customer was going to move his house.

In chapter one of this long, drawn out tale of the toughest job I've ever had, we had spudded a casing down on a vacant property where a house was going to be moved.

As I think back, it seems I encountered more problems with pumps and water conditioners than with wells I drilled. I also remember that many of the difficult jobs were due to the attitudes of my customers.

Recently, I was driving to an appointment and I passed a drill rig that appeared to be drilling a new well very near the road I was driving on. Both the driller and his helper were working bare headed.

In my last column, I wrote about some customers who thought they knew more about well repair than we, as professionals, did.