DK Drilling & Water Systems — A Hill Country Story

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Roots that run deep

DK Drilling & Water Systems didn’t start as a company—it started as a family trade. In the early 1900s, Cleo Keith was digging wells across West Texas. He taught his son, Dale Keith, Sr. (born in Odessa in 1933), the craft of finding and delivering water—a skill that would shape the Keith family for generations. Dale Sr. raised six kids and, when he wasn’t fronting the country band Dale Keith and the Starlite Ramblers, he was teaching his boys the same hands-on lessons he learned from his father: work hard, work honest, and leave every water system better than you found it.

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From Bandera beginnings to a Hill Country mainstay

By the 1970s, Texas was tightening statewide and county well regulations. Many crews stepped back. Dale Sr. stepped forward. In 1978, he founded DK Drilling Co. in Bandera, Texas—planting the roots for what is now DK Drilling & Water Systems in nearby Pipe Creek. The company focused on the essentials—drilling wells and setting pumps—and grew the old-fashioned way: by reputation. Word spread from ranch roads to rural neighborhoods that DK showed up, did it right, and stood behind the work.

Water Wells was a family event. Customers didn’t just remember the results; they remembered the family. As LeAnna Keith likes to say, “The children of Dale Keith Sr. who couldn’t walk yet were in playpens by the rig, and the ones who could were working or raking mud.” For the Keiths, water work has always been family work.

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Passing the torch

In 2009, Dale Sr. entrusted the business to his son's Stanley and Dale Keith Jr. Shortly thereafter, Dale Sr. passed away on October 29, 2009, at age 76. The son's honored his legacy while broadening the company’s capabilities and modernizing outreach. Stanley's wife LeAnna led the charge to bring DK online and into the digital age—without losing the handshake values the company was built on.

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What we do today

If it’s water, DK probably does it. Over the years, the company has expanded from traditional drilling and pump setting to a full suite of well and water-system services for rural homes and businesses across the Texas Hill Country.

• Well drilling & repair

• Pump installation & service

• Storage tank systems & constant-pressure systems

• Windmills & solar pumping systems

• Water filtration & treatment

• Emergency services & bulk water solutions (including extreme-weather preparation)

• Free estimates and consultations

DK is proud to be an approved Simple Pump dealer for reliable hand-operated pumps and motor options.

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Small on purpose

DK remains family-owned and operated, with a tight-knit crew: Stanley and LeAnna; their son Kenton and his wife Madi; Stanley’s brother Dale Jr.; Dale Jr.’s son Maverick; and long-time teammates Danny and Diezel. Staying small means when you call DK, a licensed technician shows up—often one of the owners themselves. That’s by design. The Keiths believe quality is personal, and they hold themselves to the same standard Dale Sr. set on day one.

Growth across Bandera County and the wider Hill Country has been dramatic since the late 1970s, and demand is high. The team works hard to reach every customer as quickly as possible without cutting corners. The promise is simple: do the job right the first time.

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Neighbors helping neighbors

Community is part of the company’s blueprint. In 2017, DK launched a skills program to help local single mothers learn basic carpentry while earning income building pump houses. After expanding on the design, these well houses are still made and delivered to this day. The company also aims to aid and supports clean-water charities worldwide.​

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A legacy of lifting others

Dale Sr. believed competition makes a community stronger. Over the decades, he trained and mentored other drillers across the Hill Country—often helping future “competitors” get their start. That spirit lives on at DK: share knowledge freely, earn trust daily, and keep water flowing for the people who depend on it. Many of these companies are still drilling and servicing water wells to this very day.

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Where we work

From Pipe Creek and Bandera to ranches, homesteads, and small businesses throughout the Texas Hill Country, DK specializes in reliable, cost-effective water systems for residential and commercial clients in rural settings—where a dependable well isn’t a luxury, it’s a lifeline.

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At a glance

• Founded: 1978 (Bandera, Texas)

• Headquarters: Pipe Creek, Texas

• Ownership: Family-owned; four generations (and counting)

• Service Area: Bandera, Real, Uvalde, Medina, Bexar, Gillespie, Kendall, Comal, Kerr, Guadalupe counties and surrounding Hill Country

• Approach: Education-first, transparent pricing, free estimates, fully equipped drilling rigs and service trucks

• Emergency Support: Rapid response and bulk-water solutions for extreme weather

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Our promise

Water is personal. It’s your home, your land, your family, your livelihood. DK Drilling & Water Systems exists to make sure you have safe, reliable access to water—and that you understand the system that delivers it. That’s how the Keith family has done it since 1978, and that’s how we’ll keep doing it for the next generation. DK Drilling agrees with their customers when they say "DK Drilling sets the standard in the industry". 

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Ready to talk through a project or get a free estimate? We’re here to help.