Changing Landscapes
The business has weathered its fair share of storms and seen the water well industry transform over the years. During the business’ peak drilling period in the 1970s, they would run eight rotary drills at one time and had more than 30 employees. Now, Easterday-Wilson Water Services has one drill rig and approximately 15 employees. Over the past 50 years, the business’ service area has been transitioning to municipal surface water, and the foundation the company was built on—well drilling—has declined in need.
“Everybody had wells then, but now they take the same acre of ground and put 12 houses on it and pull the water out of the river,” Franklin Jr. said. “If there is a problem with a well, you basically affect one family, but if there is a problem with municipal water you affect an entire city.”
Back in the business’ drilling prime, they would drill almost 1,000 wells a year to keep up with the increasing demand as the building industry expanded, Franklin Jr. said. Throughout the years, the well drilling industry has evolved as technology has changed.
“With the old cable tools we used to drill 3 or 4 ft a day in some areas, and with the development of rotary drills you would drill usually in the same formation an hour what it would take all day with one of those,” Franklin Jr. said. “Production really increased, which we really needed at that time because of the building industry.”
As the region began the gradual shift away from wells and towards municipal water, Easterday-Wilson Water Services adapted to fit the changing needs of its customers. Franklin Jr. spearheaded this initiative by building up the company’s pump and water conditioning services, while his father and brothers always primarily focused on the drilling aspect of the business.
“Up to that point we had concentrated mainly on drilling,” Franklin Jr. said. “We always did service work, pump work and some water conditioning, but in the early 1970s when I got out of high school is when we really started work pushing the pump and water conditioning.”
Expanding the offerings proved to be a shrewd business move that enabled the company to provide better-quality service to their customers. While the business still drills and maintains wells, the water treatment division has blossomed, as the region’s water can have chloride, iron and other contamination issues, Wilson said. The change was not just about the trend away from well water, though; it was about filling a need in the community.
“Our biggest concern was our customers that we drilled wells for had water quality issues after the wells were drilled and that gap needed to be filled because your average plumbing company did not have the knowledge and the ability to fill that specialized requirement,” Wilson said.
Still, it is clear the Easterdays always will prefer well water over surface water based off of an anecdote Franklin Jr. tells. Franklin Sr., who was an officer in the National Groundwater Assn. and president of the Maryland Delaware Water Well Assn., once spoke at a national convention in Washington, D.C. When the speaker ahead of him drank from a glass of water and commented on how good it was Franklin Sr. quipped, “Good water? That water came from the Potomac and has been used 10 times since we got up here.”