At present, the Wells…

At present, the Wells Regulation only allows professional geoscientists to undertake many basic geoscience tasks that would normally require a Class 5 Well Technician as long as those professionals work for an organization that holds a Well Contractor license.

To obtain a Well Contractor licence, a director, officer or partner must write an exam testing their knowledge of the Wells Regulation. While this is likely not an issue for small companies where the owners are well technicians, it can be a significant burden for larger firms with multiple business lines and municipalities or agencies where senior management are unlikely to have knowledge of well regulations. For these larger organizations, the requirement for senior management to write an exam is effectively a discriminatory burden and an unreasonable expectation.

To remove this burden on larger organizations, I propose the regulation be amended to allow geoscientists and other professionals hold responsibility for complying with the well regulations in their own work and write the exam instead of senior managers.

Kevin Hicks, M.Sc., P.Geo.
Principal Hydrogeologist
Wood Environment & Infrastructure Solutions