The Hydro-geologist on the Bus

I take public transit to work here in Calgary.  I have found some good value in getting some reading, thinking, or vegging done while someone else worries about the traffic and road conditions.  An older gentleman sat beside me on the way home from work last week and we got into a discussion about the book I was reading.  After talking for a while, I asking him what he did for work, and he said he was a hydro-geologist in the oil industry.  I asked him if that had provided him with any opportunity to travel. He consented that it definitely did, and proceeded to launch into a description of how he became a hydro-geologist.

Way back in the early 1970's, he was going to the University of Alberta and managed to get a job with the Alberta Research Council. This job lasted two years and involved surveying the water tables of hundreds of small towns in India (around Hyderabad).  He related that this was a fantastic experience for him.  His work allowed him to get into towns that were off the beaten tourist track and see how the people really lived and functioned.  "Bureaucracy in India is something to behold and experience," he exclaimed.

Finishing that work in India, my friend realized that he had landed upon an answer for what he was going to do with his life.  He returned to university and got a degree in hydro-geology.  Since then he has traveled to several other places.  He was telling me of drilling for water in Vietnam and having to leave the wells, the  equipment, and the country behind because the communists were coming.  He never got to finish those wells, but he returned decades later to discover that the communists had finished the wells and were using them for their intended purpose.

"Is the future was bright for hydro-geologists?" I queried.  He replied that things were going to look very positive for hydro-geologists soon as the world is going to realize how precious water is as a resource.  His outlook was that the 'future is very bright'.  He was disappointed that he would be retiring soon.

Don't miss the 'Career Resources for Graduates and Young Adults' here on the site!  It's got lots of good links to various resources you might find interesting.