New Well for Garden City

Anita Weston, Reporter

Rich Civic Times
 

GARDEN CITY –December 13, 2012.  Zan Murray, the City’s Engineer, reported that he had been working on making arrangements to get a well in the new park.  It was his understanding that the City needs a secondary water source as well as redundancy in the City’s water system.  He and Riley Argyle have found three or four drilling companies that would be willing to bid on this project.  Most drilling companies charge about $80 to $100 per foot along with other expenses.  Mr. Argyle has obtained a permit to drill to the depth of 200 feet.  This would be just to drill for a test well and will cost about $50,000 - $100,000.  Mr. Argyle reported that there was a lot more involved in getting a culinary well than was expected.

There is a leak in the pond.  There is a leakage test that can be run on sewer ponds to determine where a leak may be.  The workers thought they might use this method to determine where the leak was in the fish pond and hopefully be able to seal it off.

The Mayor informed Argyle and Murray that in just the past couple of days, two new grants have come through dealing with culinary water for Garden City.  One grant was for $40,000 from the State’s Drinking Water Division, and the other was also for $40,000 from a CIB (Utah Community Impact Board) grant.  Since these funds have just become known and available, the Mayor felt that these funds should be put towards doing a water study to make sure that the well will be placed in the best location to give the Community the necessary needed water.  The study could also cover how the water is to be handled along Third West and make sure that the best decisions will be made prior to drilling.

If a good well can be drilled that will produce enough water to handle the City during the winter months, it may be possible to shut down the water treatment plant during that time period.  This would save around $4,000 a month in electricity and heating costs at the water treatment plant alone.  This would not reduce or change water bills.  The water treatment plant must still be paid for.  However, it would allow the city to put the savings to good use in other ways that could benefit everyone in the community.  The Mayor also informed the Council that he is trying to get the current 4.5 percent interest rate on the loan for the water treatment plant lowered to 2.5 percent interest.  This would save the City money because the loan is over a 30-year time period.