David Kill Delivers NGWA Keynote as McEllhiney Distinguished Lecturer

Kill – a regional market development manager for Goulds Pumps, ITT Industries – is the fifth Distinguished Lecturer selected by an NGWA panel of ground water contractors to share his or her work with the industry at the association’s annual conference.

He’ll deliver a 90-minute lecture entitled "Well Efficiency is Not a Myth” at the 2004 NGWA Ground Water Conference and Exposition this November in Las Vegas.

An employee of Goulds Pumps since 1996, Kill is a Registered Civil Engineer in Minnesota, having received his B.S. in agricultural engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1965.

He has lectured on ground water, water well design, and pump selection and application, including several courses given by the University of Wisconsin Engineering Professionals Development Department.

“Going back to the basics is often very helpful in designing and constructing water wells for any use, Kill said. “To construct sand-free wells in unconsolidated aquifers, the proper screen slot opening must be selected and an engineering guideline must be used.”

“However, this does not mean that every well has the same size screen opening, and naturally developed wells are not old fashioned,” he said.

His NGWA lecture suggests a “rethinking of development methods as well as the design and review of various development methods,” Kill said. “The bottom line is this: are we really effective with the method used or could we construct a much more efficient well that gives the customer a better water supply?”

Initiated in 2000, the lecture series honors William A. McEllhiney, the founding president of the National Ground Water Association in 1948, and a ground water contractor and civil engineer from Brookfield, Illinois.

"McEllhiney and the other founders of the NGWA saw several primary functions for the new national group," said association Executive Director Kevin McCray.

McCray said those functions have included “serving as a clearinghouse for information and its dissemination, serving as an intermediary in coordinating advances occurring in different parts of the country, and serving as a place to bring contractors together so that they might have a working knowledge of contracting from all parts of the nation.”

“The McEllhiney Lecture series promotes and perpetuates those original aims,” said McCray. “We expect that Mr. Kill’s lecture will help to foster professional excellence in water well technology.”