Rotarian Develops Water Well Drill Rig for Developing Countries

Dec. 5, 2012 - PRLog -- SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA – In 2008, Rotarian Bob Hather of the Rotary Club of San Luis Obispo attended a conference addressed by Rotary International President D.K. Lee that would change his life.  President Lee spoke of the lack of potable water throughout the developing world, affecting over 800 million people, and responsible for the deaths of 1.5 million children under the age of five each year. Hather began looking for an innovative approach to address the problem.

“My goal was to create a water well rig that was affordable and small enough to ship to all parts of the world,” said Hather.

Hather had no problem assembling a team of highly skilled experts including water well drillers, geologists with extensive experience in developing countries, mechanical engineering professors from California Polytechnic University and production experts from a local manufacturer. Four years of research and development finally led to the creation of Lifewater Drilling Technology (LDT) and the LDT 360 Cable Well Drilling Rig. The rig was unveiled at the National Ground Water Expo on December 5, 2012 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.  

Convention goers were awed by the LDT 360’s size. At just 7’6” wide by 10’ long for shipping, it is compact enough to fit two units per standard 20’ shipping container.  Priced at about $60,000, the LDT 360 is almost one-tenth the cost of a conventional rotary drill rig. Yet the LDT 360 can drill up to 10” diameter holes to a depth of over 300 feet. Other innovations in the LDT 360 include its ability to drill through sand and rock, to be towed by a standard size pick-up truck and a single-operator hydraulic drive system.

“With NGO’s striving to stretch more value out of every dollar, the LDT 360 is the perfect solution. The low entry cost will increase access and deployment as well as enable small economic enterprise creation,” said Hather.

One person’s goal inspired by a speech is now a mission to place the LDT 360 water well drilling rig in every corner of the world, improving quality of life and saving millions of children’s lives.