Cedar City weighs Martins Flat well, spring rehab and Coal Creek treatment as water‑supply options

Cedar City’s retreat included a detailed look at options to increase supply from Cedar Canyon, where springs and surface flows historically provided a portion of municipal water. Consultants presented a range of approaches — from targeted spring and pipeline modifications to exploratory deep drilling at Martins Flat and large‑scale Coal Creek treatment — with widely different costs, risks and time frames.

Consultant Ridley Griggs and Steve Jones said the city faces three urgent challenges: the state’s chlorination directive, unusually high pressures in parts of the system and declining groundwater levels. On the canyon side, they said Martins Flat stands out as the best candidate for deeper drilling based on geologic mapping and prior test holes.

Exploratory drilling and well development

The consultants described an exploratory bore to the Navajo Sandstone as the way to resolve the largest unknowns. They estimated about $1,000,000 to drill a deep exploratory hole and carry out zone testing; if results are favorable, finishing a production well including pumps and a small pump station would add roughly $4,500,000 (total about $5.5 million). The team said prior shallow testing…