Spring City staff recommend test-well route after finding source-capacity shortfall

Jesse Ralphs, the Cityengineering consultant, told the council that while approximately $450,000 remains in contingency funding from the recent water project, that sum would not cover a full production well. He said the City could, however, complete preliminary work to move a well project toward shovel-ready status: site-specific environmental review (NEPA), an archaeological survey, agency consultation, and bid-ready engineering documents to solicit drilling bids.

Ralphs said a prior well-siting study pointed to an area near 300 North and 200 West as having the highest probability of producing roughly 300 to 400 gallons per minute, but cautioned the study cannot guarantee yields. He warned that "the City can be more than 100 gallons per minute short of the required source capacity under certain conditions," explaining state source-capacity standards account for fire flow and emergencies beyond average daily use.

Ralphs provided rough cost guidance: about $17,000 for environmental/engineering steps before drilling, $100,000 to $150,000 to drill a test well, and about $500,000 to construct a full production well. He recommended a test well as a risk-mitigation step; proceeding directly to a production well carries higher financial risk. He also noted the Division of Drinking Water requires a Preliminary Evaluation Report and may reimburse eligible property acquisition in some cases.