Story of well drilling village in Yen Thanh

Having just returned from a well drilling trip in Quy Chau district, Mr. Nguyen Van Dung (38 years old) - who has been in the well drilling profession for nearly 20 years in Nhan Tien village - said: "Life is inherently difficult because of the small amount of farmland, and acacia planting has only begun in the last ten years. My family has two children, so "being short of money" is a daily occurrence. But since starting the well drilling profession, the family has had a fairly stable source of income, providing more conditions to raise the children to study."

Mr. Dung used to struggle with all kinds of jobs, sometimes he worked as a factory worker, sometimes he worked as a glue cutter, a construction worker... but his family life was still "borrowing money here and patching up there". Luck came to Mr. Dung when he got a job as a well drilling assistant for someone in the neighborhood. After many years of working as an assistant, when he had experience and some of his own capital and borrowed more from relatives and the bank, Mr. Dung invested in his own well drilling rig, from which his work became more and more favorable.

According to Mr. Dung's rough estimate, currently the whole Tien Thanh commune has about 30 well drilling machines, of which about 20 machines belong to Nhan Tien hamlet. Compared to many years ago, the number of drilling machines has decreased significantly because of the increasing cost of labor and oil; some provinces have also formed the well drilling profession so the market is narrower than before. However, during this hot season, most of the machines in the commune are busy.
Mr. Nguyen Van Nguyen (42 years old), resident of Nhan Tien hamlet, Tien Thanh commune, said: “I have been doing well drilling for more than 20 years. At first, we had little capital so it was difficult to drill with electric machines. Now, the two brothers have pooled their capital to invest in two pneumatic drilling machines worth about 1.5 billion VND. Entering the hot season, the brothers in the village are overwhelmed with work because the people's demand for water is increasing day by day.

In the early days of the profession, well drilling only served the needs of the district. Up to now, most of the brothers in the village have gone to work in all provinces in the country such as Ha Tinh, Thanh Hoa, Hoa Binh, Lang Son, Ha Giang, Tay Nguyen, Kon Tum... There are groups of workers who even go to Laos to work.

Mr. Dang Van Mieng - head of Nhan Tien hamlet, said: "The pioneers in the well drilling profession in the village are Mr. Nguyen Van Chat (58 years old) and Mr. Nguyen Vuong Thong (57 years old). These days, the groups of workers are all at work, so if customers want to meet or call for well drilling, they can only contact by phone."

According to the drilling machine owners, each well drilling team needs about 3 people, including a main worker who is the machine owner, an assistant worker and a driver. Currently in the village, there are households that invest in 3 machines like Mr. Hung's family, or have 2 machines like Mr. Luc's, also working continuously day and night.

According to the workers, the well drilling profession begins in the main season of the year around May, June, and July, because the weather is hot at this time, so many places are very scarce of water. But the work is spread all year round. People hire drilling to get water for daily life, watering plants, serving production on the hills, or serving construction projects. On average, each well costs about 5-10 million VND in labor, but there are deep, large wells and in difficult areas, the cost can reach hundreds of millions of VND. Thanks to that, on average, each month a well driller has an income of about 10-30 million VND, a year a person with a job earns from 100-300 million VND.

Mr. Phan Van Vu - Chairman of Tien Thanh Commune People's Committee, said: "Nhan Tien village has long had the brand name of "well drilling village". Currently, although many elderly people have retired from the profession, Nhan Tien village still has many pneumatic well drilling machines worth from 800 million VND - 1.8 billion VND/machine. Thanks to the well drilling profession, the lives of people doing the job have become much better."