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Council debates Martin’s Flat water test as short-term option; files change application to move surface rights underground
Summary
Council members discussed drilling and testing at Martin’s Flat, consultant findings and state permitting constraints. Council directed staff to file a change application to explore moving surface water rights underground while consultants present a fuller Cedar Canyon master-plan report at the March retreat.
Cedar City officials debated further exploration at Martin’s Flat on Jan. 29, 2025, with the mayor and council weighing a high‑risk, potentially high‑reward deep well against alternatives including moving surface rights underground or developing north‑valley wells and farm-well hookups.
City engineer Jonathan Stathust summarized recent consultant work and cost estimates for further tests. Consultants hired to study Cedar Canyon identified Martins Flat as the best single location in the canyon for a deep test well; drilling to an estimated 2,100 feet was described as the definitive test that would determine whether Navajo Sandstone yields potable water suitable for pipeline delivery to town. Council members and staff noted drilling would be a risk: early test borings in the past had caved in or been abandoned, and deep drilling costs were described in the meeting as significant (a figure of about $1,000,000 for a full test completion was discussed in the meeting).
Independent hydrologist Andrew McCrae told the council he did not support further work at Martins Flat based on the existing evidence and prior results at the site. McCrae said an earlier test well in the canyon encountered caving within the borehole and a coal seam with poor water quality; he added that productive Navajo Sandstone wells elsewhere (for example in Snow Canyon) are typically productive because of Holocene volcanic alteration and connection to Pine Valley Mountain aquifers — geological conditions not present beneath Martins Flat. McCrae recommended exploring north‑valley “sweet spots” identified in published studies (Jorkeland et al.) and noted that the district has not historically concentrated production there.
Mayor (unnamed in the transcript) and council members debated options. Several council members said they were reluctant to spend large sums to drill a deep well before getting assurance from the Utah Division of Water Rights that surface rights could be moved or used as needed. City staff and consultants reported the Division had previously denied requests to move certain creek surface rights to Martins Flat, and that moving surface rights underground or securing a formal permission to operate would be a necessary step before committing large capital.
After discussion the council directed staff to file a change application to move available surface water rights into an underground point of diversion (a procedural step that could allow later pumping), and asked staff to schedule a more detailed presentation from Hanson Allen Luce (consultants engaged on a Cedar Canyon master plan) at the March 21 council retreat. Several council members also urged a short‑term inventory of local/agricultural wells that might be tied into the city system as an emergency or interim source.
No final engineering commitments to a deep test well were authorized that evening; staff said any drilling contract or larger capital expenditure would return to the council for separate approval. Councilmembers asked staff to continue work on master-plan deliverables, cost estimates and the change-application filing so the options would be clearer at the retreat.
