Michael Montgomery, who spent his career drilling for oil and gas deposits, is now turning his focus toward humanitarian efforts. The nonprofit he helped start, Hydro Philanthropy, aims to bring clean and reliable water sources to communities in need — using many of the same techniques developed in the energy sector.
Hydro Philanthropy is the newly established sister nonprofit of Hydrologica, an organization led by CEO Brandon Stone.
Stone says the team will talk about their work and future goals at a public event this Wednesday, from 5:30 to 7 p.m., in the Park City Library’s Community Room.
“For a lot of years, Michael [Montgomery] has been solely supporting what we're doing, Stone said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour,” Sept. 15. “And we've kind of come to a juncture now where what we're doing is becoming successful and we have a lot of organizations and a lot of governments interested in what we're doing and in need of our services. So, we want to invite other people to participate like Michael is doing, and so we've launched a not-for-profit,called Hydro Philanthropy. This will be the first time that we're opening this up and sharing what we're doing with other people, specifically the community there in Park City.”
The presentation will highlight current projects in Nicaragua, Guatemala, and across Africa, as well as the nonprofit’s vision for 2026 and beyond.
Stone emphasized the far-reaching effects of water insecurity, especially for children.
“There's over 600 million people across the world that don't have an improved water source, and that that's really hard to fathom,” Stone said. “So, there's still people that are walking to rivers and streams and springs every day to fetch water. It's not just about them not having access to safe water too, but there's all kinds of other poverties that come along with that. One of those is like a poverty of time. So, it takes an incredible amount of time to collect water, and then people don't have time to do other things. So, kids don't have time to go to school, because they spend a disproportionate amount of their time just collecting water.”
But Hydro Philanthropy isn't just drilling wells. Montgomery says they’re building long-term capacity within the communities it serves.
“Brandon and I have been working together since 2014, and we've developed this apprenticeship program in Nicaragua. It's very successful. We are increasing the capacity of the number of people who have the skills to find the water, maintain the rig and construct the borehole.”
Those interested in attending are asked to RSVP to brandon@hydrologica.com so they can plan to have enough seating and refreshments.
