Double Take-- by Mark Sproxton

Mention water witching to water well drillers and you'll get nothing but a laugh in response. "There are well witchers who say they can find water, but I don't believe them," said Bill Murray, operations manager with M&M Drilling.

Instead, Murray's company uses more scientific methods to find water for wells, which is used for domestic, business or agricultural purposes. "We go by the geological lay of the land and we have information we can get from a data bank," he said. Using truck-mounted drills, drillers, who must complete a two year apprenticeship and write a licensing exam, ply their trade year-round.

"It's heavy, dirty work," Murray explained. "Sometimes it slows you down in the winter. We're not drilling if it's minus 30 and the wind is blowing, but sometimes you have to go out."

Drillers work, for the most part, five-days a week, but regularly put in 10 or 12 hour days. Starting most morning's from M&M's office in Strathmore, drillers and helpers (called Water Jacks) will meet, drive to the place to be drilled, and return to Strathmore later that day. Sometimes out-of-town work is done, and then the crew will stay in a motel until the job is complete.

While many people take water for granted, particularly those in urban centres, Murray recognizes the importance of his work. "You have to have water to live."