• Workforce Challenges Take Center Stage – More than 40% of businesses continue to struggle with hiring, forcing companies to adapt their operations, rethink recruitment strategies, and explore new training models to bring younger workers into the trade.
• Shifting Economic and Political Climate – While concerns over the 2024 election uncertainty have subsided, industry optimism is now closely tied to expectations of policy changes, infrastructure investments, and economic conditions such as potential interest rate reductions and lower fuel prices.
• Growing Consumer Awareness of Water Quality – Awareness of water quality continues to shape industry sentiment. This year, 44% of respondents cited "increased awareness" as a positive factor—an increase of 10% since the survey’s launch, highlighting a growing business opportunity in water treatment and private well ownership.
• Regulatory and Environmental Pressures Remain a Challenge – From mandatory municipal hookups to shifting groundwater rights policies, regulatory complexity remains a significant concern for contractors across multiple states, particularly in the Western U.S., where 83% of respondents cite moderate to significant regulatory impact. Additionally, drought conditions, flooding, and extreme weather events continue to disrupt operations and affect groundwater management strategies.

• Information sheet: Emergencies, Disasters, and Wells
• Information sheet: Well Water Testing
• Brochure: Well Water Testing
• Brochure: wellcare® Hotline
• Video: Emergencies & Wells

Fortunately, SERCAP’s certified CDFI Loan Fund approved him for an Individual Household Well Loan in the amount of $15,000.00, and the agency also awarded him a $1,000.00 grant through its Essential & Critical Needs program, to cover the full cost of the project. Construction for the project was awarded to Southside Well Drilling, Inc., and SERCAP’s Loan Fund staff set-up an affordable monthly payment with the client, further reducing any potential for financial hardship.

Without SERCAP’s Certified CDFI Community Development Loan Fund Program, and other similar services, many low-income households and communities would be forced to go without such necessities as
reliable access to environmentally sound wastewater disposal solutions, clean drinking water, indoor plumbing, safe and affordable housing, community development and infrastructure needs, water/ wastewater infrastructure solutions, and more. It is important to remember that even in the United States in the 21^st Century; there are those who do not have reliable access to clean, safe drinking water, environmentally sound septic facilities, and affordable housing. In order to help SERCAP continue to provide assistance to both the individuals and communities in need, please consider making a donation to SERCAP’s Water Life! Fund!

Donate Today: https://sercap.networkforgood.com/projects/27202-sercap-s-water-is-life-fund.

*Funding for SERCAP’s Certified CDFI Community Development Loan Fund is primarily made possible by USDA Rural Development, and SERCAP’s own Agency Revolving Loan Fund. Additionally, all of SERCAP’s programs in Virginia, including the Essential & Critical Needs Program, are funded and/or leveraged by an annual Budget Appropriation granted to SERCAP by the Virginia General Assembly, which is administered by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD).

  2022 State of the U.S. Water Well Industry Report
 
In November of 2021, WSC launched a State of the Water Well Industry survey. The survey was sent to Manufacturers, Distributors, Manufacturer Representatives, State Groundwater Associations, and Contractors. The response was tremendous - 831 responses! Of those responses, 71% were contractors, 14% Distributors, 11% Manufacturers, and 4% Manufacturer Representatives.
 
The report is full of interesting data about our industry and contains input from leading members of the industry as well as WSC legal and government affairs staff.
 
Know this will now be a yearly report going forward, so do plan on taking the survey again late this year to have your voice heard as part of the 2023 State of the U.S. Water Well Industry report.
 
WSC certainly hopes you enjoy this first ever State of the U.S. Water Well Industry report!
 
Thank you for continuing to support WSC.

When asked about his time at Simmons Mo’s response was, “It had been great ride and for the most part a sweet ride”. He added that all three of the Engeman generations he worked with had treated him with great respect and that it has been an honor to work with such a fine family organization.”

Rainey will continue to work with Simmons for several more months and will be visiting customers, attending customer events, helping to transfer his years of knowledge and experience to ensure a smooth transition.  Joe Jankowski, Regional Sales Manager, will take over the service of his territories starting April 4th.

• Must be the owner and occupant of their home as their primary residence.
• No access to a public water supply.
• No new construction and must have occupied the property for at least one year.
• Applicant’s gross annual household income cannot exceed their state’s median non-metropolitan household income.  (The WWT will qualify them.)

Potential candidates should go to www.waterwelltrust.org where they can easily start the process online. Or, they can call or email WWT at (202) 625-4383 or info@waterwelltrust.org. Contractors are encouraged to refer customers in need. The intake form has a spot for customers to add their contractor's name as a referral so WWT can make sure that contractor gets the business if the referred customer qualifies.

As we all know, water is life changing, and this program is a great way to help those who need a safe, clean water supply!
 

According to WCS, these funds are for the continuation and expansion of our national program's proven technical assistance, training, educational activities, and approaches that fulfill the objectives of protection, maintenance, and conservation of safe drinking well water.

This grant will maintain the operation of our wellcare® Hotline for 12 months, enabling EPA and others to refer callers to this national source of direct and personal response to well owners and operators seeking advice on protecting, maintaining, testing, and conserving drinking well water supplies and groundwater resources.

Additional funds will go toward Hotline awareness to market the wellcare® Hotline and wellcarehotline.org to increase awareness of the availability of these critical programs and services to private wells owners and therefore increase awareness regarding sound well management practices and safe drinking water. Increases in calls to the Hotline can be directly tied to investment in Hotline awareness.

WSC will also produce four quarterly e-newsletters to provide seasonal information on well maintenance, the importance of well water testing, groundwater protection, and other topics related to health and the environment directly to over 13,000 well owner-members of the wellcare® Well Owners Network through print and e-newsletters.  

WSC has been working with RCAP since 2015 as a partner under EPA's Training and Technical Assistance grants. Recently WSC has joined RCAP and the other sub-awardees, including NGWA, NEHA, and the University of Illinois, in asking Congress to increase the funding for this program from $1.7M in 2021 to $3M in 2022.

Today, we are announcing a new way to explore those policies and advocate for the issues that impact your communities and business. Today, we are launching our new website, SmartWaterPolicies.com.

SmartWaterPolicies.com is NGWA’s latest tool in water policy and advocacy. It is a one-stop resource for lawmakers, researchers, groundwater advocates, and NGWA members to learn more about the water policies created and promoted by NGWA.

At SmartWaterPolicies.com you can:

• Learn about the industry’s important issues such as mandatory hook-up, PFAS, and water infrastructure.
• Contact your elected officials and ask them to support smart water policies.
• Find easy-to-share resources on the importance of groundwater and water wells.
• Access white papers, policy positions, and much more!

While visiting SmartWaterPolicies.com, make sure to check out how you can support our nation’s water wells in current infrastructure legislation. NGWA strongly supports a homeowner’s right to choose their water source and maintain their private water well.

Reprinted from Water Systems Council - Dec 22, 2020

The COVID-19 relief package passed by Congress on December 21, 2020, allocates $325 billion in aid to small businesses, with $284.5 billion of that going to a reauthorized Paycheck Protection Program, which allows businesses with 300 employees or fewer to access up to $2 million in forgivable loans to cover essential costs including payroll and rent. 

The new round of PPP -- or PPP2 -- contains many similarities to the first round of the PPP but also has several important differences.

Who is eligible to apply

PPP2 loans are available both to first-time qualified borrowers from the following groups:

• Businesses with 500 or fewer employees that are eligible for other SBA 7(a) loans.
• Sole proprietors, independent contractors, and eligible self-employed individuals.
• Not-for-profits, including churches.
• Accommodation and food services operations (those with North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes starting with 72) with fewer than 300 employees per physical location.

In addition, businesses that previously received a PPP loan may apply for another loan of up to $2 million, provided they:

• Have 300 or fewer employees.
• Have used or will use the full amount of their first PPP loan.
• Can show a 25% gross revenue decline in any 2020 quarter compared with the same quarter in 2019.

The bill allows borrowers that returned all or part of a previous PPP loan to reapply for the maximum amount available to them.

PPP2 loan terms

As with PPP1, the costs eligible for loan forgiveness in PPP2 include payroll, rent, covered mortgage interest, and utilities. PPP2 also makes the following potentially forgivable:

• Covered worker protection and facility modification expenditures, including personal protective equipment, to comply with COVID-19 federal health and safety guidelines.
• Expenditures to suppliers that are essential at the time of purchase to the recipient’s current operations.
• Covered operating costs such as software and cloud computing services and accounting needs.

To be eligible for full loan forgiveness, PPP borrowers will have to spend no less than 60% of the funds on payroll over a covered period of either eight or 24 weeks.

PPP2 borrowers may receive a loan amount of up to 2.5 times their average monthly payroll costs in the year prior to the loan or the calendar year, the same as with PPP1, but the maximum loan amount has been cut from $10 million in the first round to $2 million maximum.

Simplified application

The new COVID-19 relief bill creates a simplified forgiveness application process for loans of $150,000 or less. Specifically, a borrower shall receive forgiveness if a borrower signs and submits to the lender a certification that is not more than one page in length, includes a description of the number of employees the borrower was able to retain because of the loan, the estimated total amount of the loan spent on payroll costs, and the total loan amount.

The relief bill also repeals the requirement that PPP borrowers deduct the amount of any EIDL advance from their PPP forgiveness amount.

In addition, the bill includes set-asides to support first- and second-time PPP borrowers with 10 or fewer employees, first-time PPP borrowers that have recently been made eligible, and for loans made by community lenders.

Tax deductibility for PPP expenses

The bill specifies that business expenses paid with forgiven PPP loans are tax-deductible. This supersedes prior IRS guidance that such expenses could not be deducted.

Where do businesses apply?

PPP loans are backed by the SBA but issued by financial institutions. Interested businesses should check to see if a lender is participating. SBA figures show 5,460 lenders were taking part when PPP closed in August.

Targeted EIDL Program

The new relief bill creates a targeted EIDL program to assist businesses that were hardest hit by the economic impacts of COVID-19. EIDL loans bear interest at 3.75% and come with significant loan program requirements.

EIDL borrowers must keep records of how the EIDL loan is spent, and provide this information to the SBA within 90 days after the loan is repaid.  

Follow WSC’s COVID-19 Information and Resources page for the latest information that may impact the water well industry and your business.

NGWA announced their one-stop shop of online education at Groundwater Week 2020. Located at NGWA.org/University, this virtual tool is the perfect place to earn continuing education credits, train a new employee, or learn more about water well maintenance.

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Dear Stakeholder,

In January 2021, the Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) will host two virtual public meetings concerning the proposed Santee-Lynches Capacity Use Area. The purpose of these meetings will be to present to stakeholders and the general public DHEC's current assessment of groundwater conditions and use, as well as, recommendations for the following six county area: Chesterfield, Clarendon, Kershaw, Lee, Richland, and Sumter counties, collectively referred to as the proposed Santee-Lynches Capacity Use Area. 

The two virtual meetings will be at 2:00pm on January 5th, 2021 and at 6:00pm on January 12th, 2021. Both meetings will present the same material in order to provide two opportunities for persons to participate. The public meetings will be recorded and made available on DHEC's website. 

To register for the event, please complete the registration form below:

Santee-Lynches Meeting Registration

Should you have any questions regarding the virtual public meeting, email us at gwquantity@dhec.sc.gov 

Sincerely, 

Water Quantity Permitting Section

Division of Monitoring, Protection, and Assessment

Bureau of Water
S.C. Dept. of Health & Environmental Control

Connect: www.scdhec.govFacebook  Twitter