TRR photo by Tom Kane Ed Hook, pictured at left, and Jerry Hook of Hook Drilling prepare to drill a household well. (Click for larger image)

Drought keeps well drillers busy

By TOM KANE

DELAWARE AND HUDSON VALLEY — The current drought isn’t just affecting the reservoir levels, which are at the lowest they’ve been in years. It’s also causing some property owners to lose their supply of household water.

Up and down the Delaware River valley and in the Hudson Valley, well drilling companies are having a brisk business, depending on the area.

“We’re working 12-hour days over here in the Hudson Valley,” said Dawn Frey of Hudson Valley Drilling in Salisbury. “We’re having trouble keeping up with it.”

“It’s the folks who have shallow wells or who depend on springs who are affected most,” said Harry Williams of Goetz H.W. Well Drilling in White Sulphur Springs. “People with deep wells aren’t doing so bad.”

“This is generally the slow time of year for us, so we’re not getting overwhelmed,” said Chuck Fritz of Fritz Bros. Inc. of Honesdale, PA.

Bill Fulton, of Fulton Well Drilling, a well driller for 20 years in Kenoza Lake, says he’s had the best year ever.

“I think part of it is that people are using a lot more water these days,” Fulton said. “To add to it, we had an exceptionally dry spring and that’s going to affect things. I’m hearing it all around. It’s not just here.”

A spokesperson for Aqua Find Well Drilling in the Hudson Valley reported that they were very busy for this time of year.

Brian Burstman of the Sullivan County Soil & Water Conservation District corroborated what the well drillers were saying. “It’s been extremely dry for the last couple of months,” he said. “The good rainfall we had last fall got soaked up and didn’t permeate the ground enough.” Some areas of the county get more precipitation than others, he said.

“Recently, we had 15 inches of snow in northwestern Sullivan and had only eight inches in Monticello,” he said.

A glance at the precipitation data for the past year that appears every week in The River Reporter reveals the woefully low amounts of precipitation falling in the area in general.

“We’re keeping up with it, but it could get worse if it doesn’t snow or rain more from now to spring,” said Jerry Hook of Hook Well Drilling of Fallsdale, PA. “It’s not a good situation for homeowners, but it’s good for us.”