One Man’s Mission: Clean Water for All

In last week’s edition of the Coastal Breeze News, we learned about Michael Montgomery’s early life, his years working on oil rigs, his time with WEST Engineering Services, and his witnessing the need for potable water throughout the world. The story continues with his retirement from WEST.

“A friend of mine from Conoco said that I ought to go see Living Water International,” said Michael Montgomery. Based in Houston, Living Water International (LWI) is an organization dedicated to delivering safe water to people around the world through strategic partnerships and water well drilling. Montgomery’s friend felt that his combined 38 years of knowledge and education on the proper procedures and systems of oil rigs could possibly translate into the water drilling industry.

Soon after, Montgomery put together a training seminar for LWI’s new water well drilling rig in Zambia. When he traveled to Zambia for the training seminar, he met Brandon Stone, an expert in water well drilling who had worked with various organizations around the globe.

Together, Montgomery and Stone co-founded HydroLOGICA, whose purpose is to increase safe water access for unserved communities in Nicaragua and provide training and consulting services in water well drilling for other organizations across Latin America and Africa. The aim is to increase their technical capacity to reach communities in need of safe water from the first step of water well drilling all the way through project completion.

HydroLOGICA works directly with communities in Nicaragua to develop community-based water management systems. This typically includes drilling a water well and installing the appropriate pumping system, often solar-powered, while the community contributes labor and additional resources for storage and distribution infrastructure.

In addition, HydroLOGICA provides training in both water well drilling and supervision to non-governmental organizations (NGO) and government institutions throughout Latin America and Africa. Organizations send staff—such as project engineers, geologists, and hydrogeologists—to HydroLOGICA’s training facilities in Nicaragua, where they participate in both classroom instruction and hands-on field training.

The training facility at HydroLOGICA’s headquarters is fully equipped with comfortable accommodations for the trainees. Modern classrooms are available for course instruction, along with a workshop for hands-on training in areas ranging from welding to equipment maintenance and repair. There is an immaculate drill rig on site for apprentices to get hands-on experience drilling a well. They learn how to write reports and delve into the geology of the region where they will be drilling. Experiencing both classroom and hands-on experience in one place.

“They receive training on everything related to the rig. The equipment training focuses on how the component works, what will go wrong with it, and what the fix is.” Montgomery said.

For these hired workers turned students, this six-week apprenticeship is essential for the rig to be successful.

Drilling each well costs, on average, around $20,000 depending on the location and other factors. HydroLOGICA has a good relationship with the Ministry of Education in Nicaragua (MinEd), and has drilled a total of 74 wells, 12 of which were for MinEd. HydroLOGICA takes apprentices to a pre-studied location to drill wells and provide water for communities who need it most.

“We have procedures for everything, like how you load the truck and what you put in the truck before you drive four hours out in the middle of the jungle. You don’t want to get out there and find you need something that is missing.” There is a system and process for everything.

Both Montgomery and Stone perform self- audits and reviews on a quarterly basis to ensure the proper systems and processes are in place and operating properly.

Extensive online courses have been created by HydroLOGICA, some in partnership with other organizations such as Global Water Center (GWC). These online courses are not meant to take the place of hands-on or in-person training, but to offer greater accessibility to remote learners, helping to expand one’s knowledge, keep refreshing, and keep growing.

“Initial, hands-on learning is a great launching point. When you can get your hands on something…it’s one thing to be solely in a classroom, but you don’t truly get to know how to do something until you do it yourself,” said Montgomery. The need to have educated drillers with sustainable drilling practices, with proper equipment and supply chains, around the world is essential in the mission for access to clean water for all.

During a recent training seminar in Tanzania, Africa, HydroLOGICA partnered with the GWC and RUWASA (Rural and Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Agency) to include and provide drillers from all over the country with sustainable drilling practices that will impact over 900 communities. The number of people within these communities is vast, and each will benefit from the leadership provided to the drillers through HydroLOGICA’s training.

“Consulting is important to HydroLOGICA, because it keeps us learning,” said Montgomery. “I think I'm in a unique position to do this. I've got a drilling background. I'm a civil engineer. I have 38 years of international experience on rigs. My last company had an ISO 9001 quality system. So, I know the value of doing good work. On the rig, like the one you see in front of you,” He pointed at a large-scale model of an offshore oil rig, a gift from one of his many oil contracts, “mobilizing it out in the middle of the ocean to drill a well, it's important that you have the spare parts, the tools, and the training. It's the same with water wells, just on a bigger scale. On the training side, well, I’ve done quite a bit of training as WEST Engineering started as a training company.”

From the start, HydroLOGICA has aimed to become a leader in the water well drilling industry, bringing a level of professionalism that Montgomery saw was needed, just like he did with WEST.

Marco Island has been Montgomery’s home base since after Covid-19, but hasn’t slowed down since he arrived. “It's a beautiful home base. I love it! I ride my bike every day. I'm a big supporter of the YMCA, the Rotary, Our Daily Bread Food Pantry, and the good work that is being done.” Though technically retired, Montgomery has enjoyed jumping into the Island community. Janet continues to work assisting others in Financial Planning.

They share two boys and two girls, “We have four reasonably normal children and 12 fantastic grandkids,” Montgomery said with a grin on his face and twinkle in his eye.

“Early on, I recognized Michael’s big, generous philanthropic heart, which I thought was awesome because he was talking about kids without dads and wanting to help them,” said Janet. “He is a very kind person.” She gestured to a photo hung of three men that Montgomery has sponsored in full to attend and graduate from Hargrave Military Academy. “He told you about how Hargrave helped him so much. He believes in it and so he gives back and helps other young men so that they can succeed as well. It's wonderful.”

On March 1, 2020, Montgomery suffered a stroke that caused lingering speech and right arm limitations. But this has not slowed him down. He remains, in heart, that young man fresh off the plane in Singapore who saw the need for potable water.

Looking back at his life, emotion welled up on his face, “You know, God kind of just reveals His plan. Sometimes you never know what the next step's going to be until you get there.” Never would he have imagined those first steps in Singapore would lead to the mission he is on now.

Perhaps that is the most beautiful thing about life. You don't always understand in the moment, but then years later, you realize how each puzzle piece was necessary to perfectly fit into your own personal picture.

“We think that this has got to be the final solution to having water accessible to all. Teach people how to do it!” Montgomery said.

With that in mind, it’s also a collaborative effort. The more people involved, the better the reach, the bigger the impact, and the quicker we are to helping solve the world water crisis.

If you feel called to aid in HydroLOGICA’s mission by funding a well or sponsoring a worker during the six-week apprenticeship, people can reach out by contacting Montgomery at michael@hydrologica.com and sign up for the quarterly newsletter.