COLUSA, CA (MPG) – The Colusa City Council unanimously approved using water fund reserves to drill a new well to replace the failing well at Veterans Memorial Park.
Given the well’s rapid rate of decline, City Engineer David Swartz and City Manager Jesse Cain said Well No. 6, once the leading producer of drinking water, would not make it through the summer.
The City Council and staff have long discussed replacing Well No. 6, which has received significant work over the past decade, including re-sleeving the well casing to try and extend its useful life until the city received funding from the state for a new well.
“This well was drilled and put in originally in 1996 and it hasn’t lasted,” Cain said. “Well No. 4 and Well No. 5 were put in in the 1950s and are still just as good today.”
Cain credits the longevity of the city’s earlier wells to the quality of steel “used back then,” and the failure of Well No. 6 to inferior materials used by the late 1990s.
Well No. 6 pumped 1,100 to 1,200 gallons of water per minute when it was initially installed. The well now produces about 500 gallons per minute – despite many repairs, Cain said.
Because Swartz and Cain agreed the “band-aid” approach to maintaining the water well was no longer viable, and any future work on the well would not likely extend its life nor increase its capacity.
The City Council on April 1 authorized Cain to execute a contract with Nor Cal Pump and Well Drilling Inc. in the amount of $1,114,228, which was the lowest of three formal bids that ranged to over $2 million.
“This one stings a little bit,” Cain said, when presenting the bids to the City Council. “I didn’t think it was going to be this high.”
However, Cain said the new well will have stainless steel casing and screens, which No. 6 did not have.
“That is why we decided to go with stainless steel,” Cain said. “Stainless steel should last us a lot of years.”
The new well design will utilize some existing equipment to help offset the higher cost of an all new well. The well will produce in the 1,000 gallons per minute range, with the ability to switch out the pump in the future that can produce up to 2,000 gallons per minute.
The current bid transfers the existing pump, motor and VFD drive services over to the new site, which includes a cover and fencing but no building, and will be ready for large equipment when provided.
Cain said the city has been awaiting a state grant, which has been in the works for several years. Once received, the city will remove the building over the old well and move forward with other well treatments the city has planned.
Because the city is using water fund reserves to drill the new well, the utilization of existing equipment saves the city about half the cost, officials said.
“We can always upgrade sometime in the future,” Swartz said. “I know it might sting a lot, but it’s really not that bad.”