Talking to a well driller

Inspired by my visit last week with Commissioner Jewell, I have been working on understanding how the upper county well moratorium mess happened, looking for insights on where to go from here. Everyone does agree that it's a mess, and the effect it has had on the economy is unfortunate at best, tragic in places at worst.

While spending a few hours reading old newspaper reports about the run-up to the moratorium, I noticed that the name of Jeremy Bach (Bach Drilling has been in the water well drilling business since 1894, and in Kittitas county since 1943) kept coming up. So I gave him a call to see what he had to say.

Like Commissioner Jewell, Mr. Bach was very gracious and generous with his time, and helped me toward understanding how we got here. Of course -- and I don't think Mr. Bach would mind my pointing this out -- he is in the well drilling business, so it would be unfair to expect him to be neutral on the issue. Still, he has a wealth of knowledge about wells and water, and he has been involved in the process for quite some time. After our conversation he suggested I take a look at the issues section of his web page, too.