Kevin McCray, Executive Director of the National Ground Water Association (NGWA), has started the NGWA Blog. I congratulate him for doing so.
Can Twitter be far behind?
[Disclosure notice: Kevin is a friend, and I worked closely with him when I served four years on the NGWA Board and nine years on NGWA's Scientist and Engineers Division Board, including two years as Chair. I joined NGWA in the Pleistocene Epoch.]
His very first post on the decline in residential water systems in Arizona over the past 29 years brought some less-than-welcome news for many of NGWA's members. Here is the worst case:
The 38 percent one-year decline between 2007 and 2008 is pretty dramatic, and when compared to the not so long ago all-time high (for the 29 year period) of 4,517 in 2005, the drop is even more striking – 68 percent. While the freshest numbers are not always a complete reflection of actual activity because of the paperwork back log among contractors and the state agencies to whom they report, it is pretty evident that well construction has recently fallen off.
Yesterday's post dealt with contracts:
One industry story I often hear is the frustration consultants have with contractors, and contractors have with consultants, over the terms of a contract or bid specifications. I’ve heard the “horror stories” from both sides. So NGWA put together a task force of members to look at the options available to make negotiations easier – more fair – and less costly for all.
The task force discovered ConsensusDOCS, a comprehensive compilation of 90-plus contract documents written and endorsed by a diverse coalition of stakeholders in the design and construction industries. These contracts incorporate best practices, and fairly allocate risk to help reduce costly contingencies and adversarial negotiations. Over the course of the past year, a team of NGWA members put together recommendations for the best use of these contracts for groundwater work, and we are now one of 28 associations belonging to the ConsenusDOCS coalition.
Learn more about ConsensusDOCS.
I look forward to more posts.
Things I'd love to see: blogs for each of the four NGWA divisions (Scientists and Engineers; Contractors; Manufacturers; Suppliers) and the thirteen Interest Groups.
"The only thing one can do with good advice is to pass it on. It is never any use to oneself." -- Oscar Wilde
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