Water drilling rig tested in Coaldale to be shipped to Haiti next spring

Posted on September 26, 2025 by Sunny South News

By Kristine Jean
Sunny South News

A water drilling rig, being shipped to Haiti next spring that will help provide clean, safe water to Haitians, will soon arrive in Canada for testing and a demonstration on a farm in Coaldale. 

 The trike-mounted drilling rig was custom-made for Lifewater Canada – a Canadian charity that empowers local people in developing countries to meet their own water needs. They have helped establish, train, and equip well-drilling and well-repair teams in Haiti, Liberia, Kenya, and Nigeria.  

The water drilling rig will be tested on the property of Dan and Shar Nickol, Lifewater Canada’s vice-president and executive administrator, located just north of Coaldale. Following the initial testing, industry representatives and donors across southern Alberta, will be invited to attend a public, on-site demonstration on Oct. 1. The idea behind the rig and its design originated during the pandemic, as there was no way to travel internationally for an extended period of time, to provide teams with in-person support and equipment support.  

“I began getting to the drawing board and figuring out what kind of equipment we could supply these teams, where they wouldn’t have to rely necessarily on Canadian volunteers being present in-country for long-term maintenance, (and) additional training, said Nickol, pointing out the findings from several project audits in Kenya, once the pandemic’s travel restrictions lifted. “It became very clear that we needed to figure out how to drill wells in an area that not only the government wasn’t drilling water wells in, but other non-profits and NGO’s were also not drilling in,” he said. 

A lack of infrastructure, roads, and access among other factors, contributed to an  exploration of innovation and design, where Lifewater Canada worked with several companies worldwide and went to Kenya, put a drill team together and built a drilling rig on the ground from scratch – one that was capable of reaching  regions that other rigs and companies, including NGO’s could not get to.    

“We have since put one of those rigs in service in three of our countries – so we’ve got one in service in Kenya, one in service in Nigeria, and just this past spring, we put one into service in Liberia,” said Nickol. “We’ve also been looking to address the same situation, the same problem in Haiti but we still can’t travel to Haiti due to the political situation and the danger levels.” 

Work on the new driling rig for Haiti began three and a half years ago, when Nickol worked with a manufacturing company and outsourced it into China. The vehicle they wanted to use was available there and was not available in Canada or the United States. 

“We got together with their engineers, put together a design and had it built over (in China) all with the intention of reaching the most difficult places in Haiti –  places that other drill rigs can’t get to,” explained Nickol, noting the new drilling rig is a completely different design than ones they have built in the three African nations (Kenya, Nigeria and Liberia).  

The new drilling rig is coming into Canada on a research and development permit and is expected to be shipped to Haiti in the spring of 2026.  

While in Canada, it will undergo a systems test, a demonstration phase and drill test to make sure everything is in working order, noted Nickol. Over the winter months Nickol and his team will make several instructional videos on the drilling rig, for Haitians.   

“We are going to put together a series of operational, maintenance (and repair) videos in Creole – we have a volunteer in Bow Island that spent a long time down in Haiti and still speaks the language,” said Nickol, noting they will go through the different systems, make a series of operational videos with a separate series of maintenance and repair videos, both with a Creole voice overlay. 

“Then we’ll completely reassemble the machine and that’s when it’ll head down to Haiti,” he added.   

The drill, likely the first of its kind to be produced, will drill to a depth of 180 metres or 600 feet. It is built on a heavy duty tricycle – a similar type of vehicle used by many in Asia and Africa.  

“This is what Chinese farmers use to bring their grain in off the field,” said Nickol, noting the drill will go places that the average four-wheel drive pick up truck in  these countries would not be able to access. “It won’t necessarily get there quickly… but we’re drilling for people not for profit… so as long as we can successfully drill, that’s our goal,” he added.   

The drilling rig will provide “maximum serviceability” in a country that does not have resources to service it noted Nickol. The drive engine on the tricycle is a single cylinder 30-horsepower diesel with a belt drive. 

“We can’t access parts for the equipment so when something breaks and we have to rely on shipping from North America or we have to rely on some kind of specialized re-build process to get something back in order, that can easily mean six to eight months of downtime for a team,” he explained. “So we’re working to avoid that to get the maximum number of projects done in a year.” 

Lifewater Canada is currently drilling five to six new wells a month in Haiti and hope to double that number with the new drilling rig. There are plans for a second water drilling rig like this one, eventually, after the country stabilizes. 

They are also looking at expanding their work in Nigeria over the next 12 to 18 months, which will be the next country to receive a drilling rig like the one being shipped to Haiti in 2026. 

There will be a public viewing of the drilling rig with a presentation on Lifewater Canada at the Bow Island Seniors Centre on Sept. 29 and a drilling demonstration, which the public can attend, at the Nickol farm on Oct. 1. To attend the drilling demonstration please email DanNickol@Lifewater.ca