July 13, 2026
This week’s photo is courtesy of Russell Drilling Company- Nacogdoches, TX, USA.
Safety Focus
Part 1 of 4: The Job Starts in the Yard
This week we are focusing on job preparedness, in the order that it actually happens: the yard, the vehicles, the road, and the site. It starts with your equipment, and OSHA is not vague about it. Rigging equipment for material handling must be inspected before use on each shift and as necessary during use. Defective rigging comes out of service. Not tagged for later. Not set aside for the slow week. Out.
Here is the standard most crews do not know by the numbers. Under OSHA, wire rope must be pulled if, in any length of eight rope diameters, the visible broken wires exceed 10 percent of the total wires in the rope, or if it shows other signs of excessive wear or corrosion. On a one inch line, eight diameters is eight inches. That is the window you inspect. Most people eyeball a whole drum and call it good; the rule is tighter and more specific than that, and it exists because wire rope fails at the worst possible moment.
The rest of the rigging rules run the same direction. Slings get inspected each day before use by a competent person the employer designates, and damaged slings come out immediately. Every sling needs legible identification markings showing its rated capacity, and a sling without readable markings cannot be used at all. Nothing gets loaded past its safe working load. Slings do not get shortened with knots, bolts, or makeshift devices. Alloy steel chain slings get a thorough periodic inspection at least once every 12 months, and the employer keeps a record of the month it happened.
Tongs, elevators, slips, and hand tools deserve the same discipline even where the standard is written more generally. The pattern is always the same: inspect it before the shift, pull it when it is damaged, and never let a repair get deferred because the job is behind. A well site is a bad place to discover you were optimistic in the yard.
Key Takeaways
• Rigging gets inspected before use on each shift. Defective gear comes out of service immediately, not at the end of the job.
• Wire rope rejection criterion: more than 10 percent visible broken wires in any length of eight rope diameters, or other excessive wear or corrosion.
• A sling without legible capacity markings cannot be used. No knots, no bolts, no makeshift shortening.
Sources:
• eCFR: 29 CFR 1926.251 (current text)
Industry Update
The Federal PFAS Rules Are Being Rewritten, and the Comment Window Closes July 20th
If PFAS touches your work, and increasingly it touches everyone who drills or services wells for drinking water, this is the week to pay attention. On May 18, EPA proposed two rules that would reshape the federal PFAS drinking water regulation adopted in 2024. Written comments close July 20.
Here is what the proposals actually do, because the headlines have been sloppy. The first upholds the maximum contaminant levels for PFOA and PFOS at 4 parts per trillion each, the same limits set in 2024, but creates an opt-in path for water systems to request two additional years, moving their compliance deadline from April 2029 to April 2031. Systems that do not request and receive that extension stay on the 2029 deadline. The limits are not being weakened; the runway is being extended for systems that can show they need it.
The second proposal is the bigger change. It would rescind the drinking water regulations for four other PFAS: PFHxS, PFNA, HFPO-DA (the GenX chemicals), and the hazard index that covers mixtures of those three plus PFBS. EPA argues the 2024 rule did not follow the Safe Drinking Water Act's required process, and says the eventual replacement could end up more stringent, not less. Either way, of the six PFAS regulated in 2024, only two would keep federal limits while this plays out.
For well professionals, the practical read is this: where federal limits lapse, state limits fill the gap, and several states already regulate compounds the federal rescission would drop. Your customers' obligations will increasingly depend on which state they sit in. Monitoring and reporting requirements under the 2024 rule are unchanged, with initial monitoring still due by 2027. If you have an opinion worth putting on the record, the docket is open until July 20.
Sources:
• U.S. EPA: Proposed PFAS Rescission Rule
• U.S. EPA: Proposed PFOA and PFOS Compliance Extension Rule
Knowledge Share
Part 1 of 4: What a Submersible System Actually Is
This week is a Pumps 101 for everyone who works around submersible systems, without specializing in them. Start with the fact that it is a system, not just a pump: a pump end, a motor beneath it, drop pipe, cable, and controls at surface. Change one and you have changed the others.
The motor is the part people tend to understand least. Submersible motors are built water-filled or oil-filled, and the fill is not incidental. It lubricates the bearings and it carries heat out of the windings. Water is a far better cooling medium than air, which is why a submersible stator can run current densities an air-cooled motor could never survive. That advantage comes with a hard condition: the water has to move. The motor is deliberately built smaller in diameter than the borehole so that water can pass between the motor and the casing on its way to the pump intake, and that passing flow is what keeps the motor alive. Take the flow away and the motor cooks.
Because the motor lives submerged, it has to handle pressure and thermal expansion. A bellows or diaphragm equalizes internal pressure with the well, and a mechanical seal on the drive end, usually backed by a slinger, keeps well fluid and grit out of the motor.
On larger units, typically as high as 4,160 volts for medium-voltage motors, that job gets its own dedicated component: the seal section, also called a protector. It does four things: equalizes pressure between the motor and the wellbore, holds a reservoir of motor oil that expands and contracts as the motor heats and cools, carries the axial thrust the pump generates through a thrust bearing, and blocks well fluid from reaching the motor. On most smaller motors, there is no separate seal section; the thrust bearing lives inside the motor itself. Same four jobs, different packaging. Understanding that is the difference between knowing what the parts are called and knowing why they exist.
What this means for your next design
• Cooling flow is not a detail, it is the design constraint. Before anything else, confirm water will actually pass the motor at the setting depth you have in mind.
• Know which scale you are working at. If there is a separate seal section, you are in a different world of thrust loads and service requirements than a typical smaller unit.
Sources:
• PetroWiki (SPE): Seal Chamber Section
Industry Events
Event Spotlight: South Atlantic Jubilee
July 25-27, 2026; Myrtle Beach, SC
Information and Registration: South Atlantic Jubilee
The Jubilee is one of the largest regional gatherings in the water well industry, drawing drillers, pump installers, suppliers, and manufacturers from across the Southeast to the Myrtle Beach Convention Center. Registration is open now.
Looking Forward-
National Water Resources Association: Western Water Seminar
August 3-6, 2026; Boise, ID
Information and Registration: NWRA: Western Water Seminar
NGWA: Darcy Lecture, Groundwater Recharge Regimes Are in Flux
August 4, 2026; Virtual Attendance, 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. ET
Information and Registration: NGWA Event Calendar
American Ground Water Trust: Mid-Atlantic and the Carolinas Groundwater Conference
August 18-19, 2026; Richmond, VA
Information and Registration: AGWT: Mid-Atlantic Conference
NGWA: Advancing Women in Groundwater, Conversations That Connect
August 27, 2026; Virtual Attendance, 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. ET
Information and Registration: NGWA: Advancing Women in Groundwater
NGWA: Groundwater Week 2026
December 8-10, 2026; Las Vegas, NV
Information and Registration: NGWA Groundwater Week 2026
If you have a conference, symposium, workshop, or water well related event that you would like mentioned, contact us at [email protected]
Work Hard. Work Smart. Stay Safe!
