Water trumps oil

Technology and intuition both have a place in well-drilling

Tim Hoechsmann owns and operates Owen's Drilling Ltd. in Cranbrook, B.C. — Marie Milner photo

As a young man seeking lucrative work, Tim Hoechsmann headed for the Alberta oil fields. Eventually, wanting to move back to the Kootenays, he switched from drilling for oil to drilling for water. Hoechsmann bought into a partnership in Owen’s Drilling Ltd. in Cranbrook in 2007, and became sole owner in 2011.

“We pretty much work across western Canada, including the Yukon,” Hoechsmann said. “Our customers are mostly homeowners, but we have a growing number of requests from engineering and environmental consulting firms for environmental testing, where they’re looking for pollution in old mine sites, gas stations and places like that.”

Hoechsmann said that it takes a special kind of patience and skill to find water.

“You need technique too,” he said, “but if you can develop the special sense for it that some guys have, you’ll do a lot better.”

Owen's Drilling opened for business in 1980, five years before Hoechsmann was born.