The Daily Drop

July 6, 2026

For those who were fortunate enough to have the weekend off to recharge your batteries, we hope you all took advantage of the time. For those who kept grinding away at work, we sincerely thank you for all your efforts and sacrifice.

Safety Focus

Part 1 of 4: The Threat You May Underestimate

Nobody in this industry needs a reminder that summer can be hard on a crew. But the numbers say we still underestimate what heat actually does to working people. According to the National Safety Council's Injury Facts, which compiles Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data, exposure to environmental heat caused 48 work-related deaths in the United States in 2024. In combined 2023 and 2024, heat accounted for roughly 7,100 cases serious enough to force days away from work, job transfer, or restricted duty, including 5,280 cases where workers lost days entirely.

Here is the part that should get your attention: this is not spread evenly across the workforce. BLS analysis of the years 2011 to 2020 found that about one in three workplace deaths involving extreme heat occurred among workers in construction and extraction occupations. That’s us. Drilling crews work in direct sun, on hot steel, often in remote locations where the nearest emergency room is a long drive away. The exposure profile of a well site checks nearly every risk box the researchers identify.

Heat deaths are also among the most preventable fatalities BLS tracks. Every one of them involves a body that gave warning signs, usually for hours, before it failed. The problem is that heat illness is easy to dismiss in the moment. It looks like a guy who is tired, a little clumsy, a little quiet. On a busy site, that is invisible right up until it is an emergency.

This week we are going to treat heat like the occupational hazard it is. Tuesday covers how heat illness actually progresses and what to do when it happens. Wednesday is hydration done right, with the actual numbers. Thursday covers acclimatization, because the data on first-week deaths will change how you onboard summer help.

Key Takeaways

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Industry Update

New Mexico Launches Regional Water Security Planning Framework

New Mexico has taken a significant step toward long-term water security. The New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission (NMISC) adopted its Water Security Planning Act (WSPA) rule, which took effect April 9, 2026. The rule implements the Water Security Planning Act, passed unanimously by the New Mexico Legislature in 2023. It establishes the framework for regional water planning across the state.

Under the rule, New Mexico is divided into nine water planning regions. NMISC will convene Regional Water Security Planning Councils in three-region cohorts over a six-year initial planning period, with each region developing a water security plan during a roughly two-year window. Plans must be updated every decade, with prioritized project and policy lists refreshed every five years.

For the water well industry, the stakes are direct. Each council is required to include representatives from rural water systems, irrigation districts, municipalities, and tribal governments — the same entities that drive well construction and groundwater development. Regional plans must document water balance, account for projected reductions in supply, and prioritize projects that secure water futures, which will shape groundwater allocation, permitting demand, and infrastructure investment across the state for years to come.

NMISC is currently finalizing updated guidelines, which will go before the Commission for review in late summer 2026, followed by public input and adoption in fall 2026. The first regional councils are expected to be formally convened after guidelines are finalized.

A tip of the hardhat to Dawn Hatley at Cotey Chemical Corporation for flagging this topic and bringing it to our attention.  

Knowledge Share

Part 1 of 4: It All Starts With the Formation

This week we are going to look at screen and filter pack design, in accordance with AWWA A100-20, the standard most specifications reference when designing a water well that meets municipal standards. This should be the standard by which most water wells are designed.

Let’s start with what a well screen actually does. Its main job is to hold the filter pack or formation in place while letting water through, and to give you access to the aquifer for development and future maintenance. The screen is not a filtering device in a filter packed well; the pack does the filtering. Design the two together or neither works right.

Now, the sacred cow. For decades, screens were sized around entrance velocity, usually the old 0.1 feet per second rule. A100-20 pushes back: entrance velocity should not be the sole criterion for screen design. The research behind that position, published in multiple articles and studied by many great minds, found that below a threshold of roughly 2 to 4 feet per second, further reducing entrance velocity produced no appreciable gain in well efficiency. In other words, most reasonably designed screens are already well below the velocity that matters, and obsessing over it can steer you down a path with no hydraulic benefit.

The tool that drives everything else this week is the sieve analysis. From that, we can select the filter pack that best fits the formation and then determine which slot size is appropriate for that filter pack.

What this means for your next design:

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Industry Events

Spotlight: American Ground Water Trust: New Mexico Groundwater Conference

The conference focuses on groundwater issues specific to New Mexico, facilitating information sharing among well drillers, engineers, regulators, scientists, attorneys, and water end-users. Approved for 13 CEUs through NMOSE for NM Well Drillers, 13 training hours through NMED for NM Water and Wastewater Utility Operators, and 10 general CLE credits through the State Bar of New Mexico.

A pre-conference field trip- "The Hydrogeology and Recent Human History at Carlito Springs Open Space"- is scheduled for Monday, July 13 from 4:00 to 6:30 PM, hosted by Bernalillo County Hydrogeologist, Corbin Carsrud, PG. Only a limited number of spots remain.

American Ground Water Trust: New Mexico Water Well Workshop

Groundwater Resources Association of California: 2026 Groundwater 101 Week

South Atlantic Jubilee

If you have a conference, symposium, workshop, or water-well related event that you would like mentioned, contact us at [email protected]