How was Aqua Specialties started?
By 1989, I had worked for both a well drilling firm and water systems contractor. With a recession looming, I chose to leave the seacoast New Hampshire well pump and water treatment firm to form Aqua Specialties. I had seen a small family-run organization get top-heavy and unable to respond to declining orders and cash flow challenges. I had initially considered creating a brokerage for water well services and products but that soon proved to be impractical.
So then what did you do?
Many of my clients followed me, especially those in need of water treatment expertice. I had gathered a reasonable tool collection and was installing and servicing both well pump and water treatment systems. It was truly a grass-roots effort.
Did you provide any other services?
Yes. In the late eighties, I acquired a New Hampshire Water Works Operators License for small community water systems. Having installed water pump stations for property developers’ condominiums and other developments, I already had clients who needed operators. I began offering this as a service and today Aqua Specialties manages over 15 public water supplies.
We have installed radon equipment for air and water also. Essentially, we can provide a well owner with everything needed to have a reliable supply of high-quality water.
More recently, we have started providing technical services to some of our clients. Aqua Specialties can provide investigative services of water wells: flow and depth determination and we have a camera for inspecting well bores. I have seen an increasing interest in water quality and well construction concerns.
How is your company staffed?
Since most of our customers rely on their well water supply systems daily, I need staff members who are intelligent and responsive while not afraid to get their hands dirty. This is a specialized field with no formal training programs. I carefully choose individuals who can learn quickly through reference materials and in-house instruction. We have high standards for our workmanship and the products we sell. We outsource to competent subcontractors as needed.
I was educated in mathematics and economics at the University of New Hampshire so some may consider this to be an unlikely career direction. I do not feel that you can be overeducated; the perspectives that you gain will help you and those you serve. I encourage my employees to read industry news and attend seminars. I have been fortunate enough to take some graduate-level ground water hydrology courses which were offered through UNH. In addition, those of us who have water works operators' licenses are required to maintain our continuing education.
What is your approach to your work?
Aqua Specialties delivers reliability and value to our well water clients. We choose equipment that will last and install it accordingly. When possible, we encourage our clients to upgrade their systems to comply with the newest codes and to protect our ground water resources. Our approach to water treatment is to keep it simple yet effective. We understand that most of our clients just want a source of clean water with minimal upkeep. We design our systems accordingly. We install equipment so that it can be readily serviced in the future.
What do you predict for the future of Aqua Specialties?
Since we have a strong customer base in our service region, we anticipate that Aqua Specialties will continue to serve our well water customers through good and bad economic times. We have positioned ourselves to be very much like a water utility for our full-service well customers. As the EPA's regulations of small water supplies becomes stricter-radon level reduction, for example- we will respond with the latest technologies available to our industry. We also anticipate a large demand for arsenic reduction systems.
I also expect that our technical services will be needed more as development takes over our previously undeveloped land. Though we work in a relatively water-rich area, concerns are growing about the availablity and quality of drinking water. A few years ago, we were hired by a large water company to investigate the performance of over 40 private wells adjacent to one of their municipal wells. Even in New Hampshire, people are learning not to take our groundwater for granted.
We have also opened an on-line store for well owners, wellwaterproducts.com. Aqua Specialties has always sold high-quality well pump and water quality improvement equipment to local do-it-yourselfers. In this age of big box discount stores, people are learning to appreciate the value of professional grade goods. We are offering the same products which we install and stand behind on-line at reasonable prices.
