September 26, 2026
This week’s photo is courtesy of- K.P. Ventures Drilling and Pump - Camp Verde, AZ, USA.
Health Focus
Part 2 of 2: Your Brain
Yesterday: why the brain fails first, and what that looks like. Today: what to do about it.
Test before you trust. Oxygen first, then combustible gas, then toxic gas, with a calibrated direct-reading instrument. That is the entire defense. Your senses are not instruments, and in the case of hydrogen sulfide your sense of smell is actively lying to you at dangerous concentrations.
Do not trust the smell in any direction. Rotten eggs means hydrogen sulfide is present. Sweet means there is more of it. No smell at all can mean your nose is already gone. None of those gives you a number. The meter gives you a number.
Ventilate, and keep ventilating. Forced air from a clean source, directed where the work is actually happening, running the whole time anyone is inside. If the ventilation stops, the entrants come out.
Keep the attendant out and the retrieval line on. That is a health measure as much as a safety one. The point of non-entry rescue is that it does not require a second brain to be exposed to the air that took down the first.
Take a near miss seriously. The instinct after a bad breath of air in a vault is to shake it off and finish the shift. Do not. OSHA reports that some people who breathed hydrogen sulfide at levels high enough to knock them unconscious go on having headaches and trouble with attention, memory and motor function after they wake up. That is your brain, and it does not always come all the way back on its own. Come out, tell your supervisor, and ask for a medical evaluation. Do not wait to see how you feel tomorrow. That is a medical event, not a rough morning.
One concrete detail worth carrying. If an injured entrant was exposed to a substance that has a Safety Data Sheet at the worksite, 1926.1211(d) requires that sheet to be made available to the medical facility treating him. Send the sheet with the man. It changes what the emergency department can do for him in the first hour.
None of this is medical advice and none of it replaces a physician. Exposure to an oxygen-deficient or toxic atmosphere should get evaluated by a medical professional.
Key Takeaways
• Test with a calibrated meter, in order. Your senses are not instruments.
• Losing the rotten-egg smell can mean the hydrogen sulfide got worse, not better.
• Ventilation runs the entire time anyone is inside, and entrants leave if it stops.
• Report any exposure the same day and get evaluated, even if you feel fine an hour later.
Sources:
Industry Updates
Colorado River Cuts Land With the New Water Year
Interior signed the Record of Decision and the 2027 to 2028 Operating Guidelines for post-2026 Colorado River operations on August 21, cutting Lower Basin deliveries by 1.25 million acre-feet in each of the next two years. If the Lower Basin states hold to their proposed sharing agreement, Arizona absorbs 760,000 acre-feet, California 440,000, and Nevada 50,000. The states also commit to voluntarily conserve and store at least 700,000 acre-feet over the two-year period on top of those reductions. Lake Powell begins the October 1 water year between elevations 3,540 and 3,510 feet, which puts operations in the Lower Elevation Infrastructure Protection Range with an expected release of 6.0 to 7.0 million acre-feet.
Water that does not show up on the surface has to come from somewhere. Cuts this size push municipal, agricultural and industrial users toward groundwater, recharge and storage. Expect demand for production wells, deepening, pump changes and aquifer testing across Arizona, California and Nevada.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation: Interior Department Finalizes Plans for 2027-2028 Colorado River Operations
California Rewrites Its Well Standards for the First Time Since 1991
DWR Bulletin 74 sets California's minimum statewide standards for water wells, monitoring wells, cathodic protection wells and geothermal heat exchange wells. It was last updated in 1991. DWR is finishing a full rewrite now. The published schedule puts release of the public review draft in fall 2026, final revisions through winter and spring of 2027, and approval and transmittal to the State Water Resources Control Board in 2027, where it becomes the basis of a statewide model well ordinance.
The provisions under review are the ones you handle every day. Bulletin 74 covers siting away from pollution sources, casing materials, annular seal materials and placement, surface features such as pads and covers, well development, rehabilitation and deepening, and destruction. Local enforcing agencies do the permitting and inspecting, and they can adopt standards stricter than the state floor but never looser. If you drill in California, the public comment window this fall is where a working driller's input counts.
Source: California Department of Water Resources: Bulletin 74: California Well Standards
NRC Proposes First Groundwater Rules Written for In Situ Recovery
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission published a proposed rule on September 10 adding a new Criterion 14 to Appendix A of 10 CFR Part 40, the first groundwater protection requirements written specifically for uranium in situ recovery. ISR has been the predominant way uranium is extracted in this country since the 1990s, but the rules on the books were built for conventional mills, so the NRC has handled groundwater protection through site-specific license conditions instead. Criterion 14 covers site characterization, wellfield pre-operational requirements, well design and construction, operating and monitoring, mechanical integrity, wellfield restoration, plugging and abandonment, and corrective action.
The numbers tell you where the work is. Four independent background samples at each point of compliance well, taken at least two weeks apart. At least three indicator constituents, sampled every two weeks, to catch an excursion. Mechanical integrity tests on both injection and production wells before first use and at least once every five years after. Comments close October 13.
Source: Federal Register: In Situ Recovery Monitoring and Decommissioning Timeliness, 91 FR 57728
Source: Federal Register: In Situ Recovery Monitoring and Decommissioning Timeliness, 91 FR 57728
Industry Events
Event Highlight: CGA Annual Conference and Tradeshow
California Groundwater Association: CGA Annual Conference and Tradeshow
October 6 to 8, 2026; Reno, Nevada (Atlantis Casino Resort Spa)
If you drill in California, this is the room where this fall's Bulletin 74 rewrite gets argued out by the people it lands on. A Bulletin 74 update is on the Thursday morning schedule. CGA is the state's trade association of well drillers, pump installers and groundwater professionals, and its annual conference pairs a working trade show with education sessions at basic and advanced levels, including an advanced session on steel presented by Roscoe Moss Company on Wednesday afternoon. Registration is open, and members pay well under the nonmember rate, so if you are not a member, price that out before you sign up. Reno in October is an easy drive from most of Northern California and a short flight from the rest.
Information and Registration: CGA Annual Conference and Tradeshow
Washington State Ground Water Association: 2026 WSGWA Fall Convention
October 2 to 3, 2026; Kennewick, Washington (SpringHill Suites by Marriott)
Information and Registration: 2026 WSGWA Fall Convention, Registration Now Open
Southwest Section AWWA: 2026 SWAWWA Annual Conference
October 25 to 27, 2026; Bossier City, Louisiana (Live! Casino and Hotel Louisiana)
Information and Registration: 2026 SWAWWA Annual Conference
Ohio Water Well Association: 2026 OWWA Convention
November 4 to 5, 2026; Newark, Ohio (Cherry Valley Hotel)
Information and Registration: 2026 OWWA Convention
National Ground Water Association: Groundwater Week 2026
December 8 to 10, 2026; Las Vegas, Nevada
Information and Registration: 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]
Vendor Directory
Premium Vendors-
Become a Premium or Plus vendor and increase your exposure. Claim your company and upgrade or list your company at https://waterwellresource.com/become-a-listed-vendor/
Basic Vendors-
Work Hard. Work Smart. Stay Safe!
