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Williams water crisis comes to an end after late winter storm replenishes reservoirs
Dogtown 1 Well back up and running and producing 150 gallons per minute, city officials still moving forward with Sweetwater Well

Over a four-day period between Feb. 28 and March 3, Williams received 14 inches of snow, which replenished the city’s five reservoirs with almost 200 million gallons of water. Pictured above: Cataract Lake water levels are looking up this week. Ryan Williams/WGCN

Over a four-day period between Feb. 28 and March 3, Williams received 14 inches of snow, which replenished the city’s five reservoirs with almost 200 million gallons of water. Pictured above: Cataract Lake water levels are looking up this week. Ryan Williams/WGCN

After a year of living with the highest level of water restrictions, Williams residents can once again water their lawns, wash their cars, refill swimming pools and apply for building permits after a major storm drastically augmented the city's water supply.

Over a four-day period between Feb. 28 and March 3, Williams received 14 inches of snow, which replenished the city's five reservoirs with almost 200 million gallons of water. That amount equates to about nine months worth of water for the city - enough to reduce the city of Williams' water restrictions from the highest level to the lowest level.

As of March 11, the city reduced its water resource levels and conservation measures from resource status level four (water crisis) to resource status level one (water awareness).

According to city code, this lower level goes into effect "when water demand is equal to or less than safe production capability. Safe production shall be defined as daily system demand of one million gallons per day/reservoir storage reserves of eighteen (18) months supply or more."

Under the new water awareness conservation level, "water users are specifically encouraged to minimize waste in water used for irrigation, vehicle and pavement washing, construction and all other uses."

At the beginning of February, Williams had a 7.8-month supply of water based on reservoirs alone. After the most recent snowstorm, that number grew to a 16.3-month supply.

"The data was collected yesterday (March 9) and shows just how much one major storm can change things," City Manager Brandon Buchanan said.

After receiving little measurable snowfall last year, the water levels in the city's five reservoirs were quickly dwindling as the peak summer tourist season approached. On Feb. 25, 2014, the city implemented level four water restrictions to help conserve the vital resource.

Williams' level four water restrictions prohibited people from using potable water for irrigation or any reason other than for public health or emergency reasons. The restrictions also placed limitations on the city's ability to issue building permits.

The city needed at least a 10-month supply of water to get out of level four water restrictions.

With the building permit freeze no longer in place, Buchanan expects about a dozen building permits for single-family homes to come through the city in the next month. On the commercial side, Buchanan said he didn't know of any specific projects that may file permits.

Salvaging Dogtown 1 Well

The rising water levels in the reservoirs aren't the only good news the city got this week. After working since May to revive the disabled Dogtown I Well, workers were recently successful in drawing water from the well. On March 7, the well started producing 150 gallons per minute.

After workers were unable to remove some material that was obstructing the well equipment, they ended up pushing it down further into the well to make room for the equipment to go above it. Officials put a smaller pump into place, with a 150-gallon per minute capacity.

Before the well failed, it was producing about 240 gallons per minute. Buchanan hopes workers can put in a larger pump to allow the well to return to that level in the coming months.

"Our plan right now is to let that run as is for a few months, let everything stabilize, let the formation around the well stabilize, let the motor and everything get comfortable, and then several months from now prior to peak season go back down with the larger pump and return it, if everything works and goes according to plan, to the 240 gallons per minute," he said.

He added that so far, the data shows that there is plenty of water in the well.

Buchanan estimates the cost of reviving Dogtown 1 Well will be about $2.2 million.

Since the city's water conservation ordinance was written before the city had any wells, the water restriction levels are put in place based on the amount of lake water available without factoring in well production. For that reason, salvaging Dogtown 1 had no effect on the decreased water restrictions.

Williams' water supply

Currently, Dogtown 3 Well is producing 245 gallons per minute, Rodeo Well is producing 160 gallons per minute, and Dogtown 1 Well is producing 150 gallons per minute. That combined 555 gallons per minute of well water capacity equates to 799,200 gallons per day, which is more than the city's average daily water use. Even in June, which is the city's busiest month, residents and tourists use about 796,092 gallons of water per day.

"So technically, on paper, we could meet our average daily demand with just the well water that we have, which is huge for us," Buchanan said. "Of course I've got to caution that we just got Dogtown 1 up and running again, we're not sure how stable or how long it's going to run, but every indication looks like it's going to be good."

Now Buchanan hopes the city can use any excess well water to keep filling the lakes.

"Right now we're still playing catch up where we're trying to get those lakes to where they're full. So part of the thinking is if we keep those lakes at or near capacity all the time, then we always have an available supply of X amount of time. So if worst case scenario all of our wells went down for some period of time, which we're also trying to mitigate by having a variety of wells to pull from instead of just one or two, we'd still have years worth of water in our lakes."

In the meantime, the city is working on a fourth well, the Sweetwater Well, which will be located on a 16-acre piece of city-owned property north of Interstate 40 on Airport Road. The drilling contractor is completing some paperwork for the state before mobilizing to the site. Buchanan hopes drilling can start in early to mid April, and that the well will produce in the 250 gallons per minute range. The Sweetwater Well is expected to cost in the $2 million range.

Although things are looking up for the city of Williams now, Buchanan said residents should still be mindful of their water usage.

"Obviously because of where we live and the environment we live in, it's something that we have to be aware of and not go right back to wasting water when we don't need to," he said. "I still encourage everybody to be very cautious about using water. Sixteen months is not much different than 10 months, and very quickly we could be back in those restrictions if we start going crazy using water."


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