Delay on Reinstating Landscape Irrigation
Bad news I’m afraid.
We were hopeful we’d be able to lift the landscape irrigation prohibition by July 8th. This was dependent on the successful installation of uranium treatment at Wells #2 & #3, the completion of the inter-tie with Lukins Brothers Water Company (LBWC), and receiving the necessary permits from the State.
Unfortunately, we have run into issues bringing the uranium treatment online at Wells #2 & #3.
Before we can utilize the new treatment tanks everything has to be sterilized. This is done by filling the tanks with chlorinated water and leaving them for twenty-four hours. If, after twenty-four hours, the chlorine levels are above 10 parts per million (ppm) then everything has been successfully sterilized.
Despite multiple attempts, our tests haven’t shown sufficient chlorine levels being maintained in the tanks after twenty-four hours. Our Water Company Manager, Dan Larson, has been talking with the supplier of the tanks and ion exchange resin that is used for filtration and no one is quite sure why the tests show no residual chlorine.
That said, the current plan is for the supplier to remove the resin early next week so Dan can chlorinate the empty tanks and then load the resin back in. If all goes to plan this should be completed by the end of next week, at which time, we can finally send off our first test samples (this is the optimistic timeline).
Given this delay, we likely wouldn’t get our initial test results back until after July 8th, when we had hoped to resume irrigation.
We are still working on restoring some level of irrigation during the month of July, but at this time we don’t have a specific date I’m afraid. It all depends on bringing Well #3, at least, online with the uranium filtration.
As soon as we are able, we’ll let everyone know when they can restart their irrigation.
In the interim, this means that everyone will be notified shortly of the permanent rule change going into effect on July 8th that prohibits irrigation. Due to the way things work, the emergency rule that the Board of Directors put in place back in March expires July 8th and we obviously need to put the permanent rule in place until we are ready to restart landscape irrigation. At that point, we’ll override this permanent rule. Apologies for the confusion this is bound to cause.
I know this is not good news, we had hoped that July 8th was a realistic goal. Of course, complex projects like these have a way of spoiling the best-laid plans.
Thank you for the update. Appreciate everyone’s hard work to get things back up and running. Fingers crossed it won’t be much longer.
If the Lukens tie-in is complete, why can’t we get some limited irrigation capabilities while the well 2/3 issues are sorted out?
Mike, we are still waiting on the State sign-off for the Lukins inter-tie, once we have an ETA on that we will revisit whether we can allow some level of irrigation…we have considered allowing drip irrigation only based on a limited schedule, but at this point even that seems unlikely.
Thanks. Based on the recent announcement regarding sources of water over the 4th-12th holiday, it seems that the Lukins tie-in is in place and operational and (presumably) signed-off by the state?
By what date can we expect further information?
Mike, yes, the Lukins inter-tie is complete thankfully, and just in time as we are facing issues with Well #1 now that has resulted in reduced capacity. The STPUD inter-tie has also been opened given the emergency situation through this holiday week.
We are waiting to resolve the disinfection issue we’ve faced at Well #3, so no ETA right now on bringing this well online with filtration, which is a prerequisite for allowing irrigation again. We also now need to replace the gearbox at Well #1 to bring it back to full capacity…so unfortunately we aren’t out of the woods yet.
I don’t think we’ll be able to restore irrigation until towards to the end of the month at the earliest at this point (just my personal opinion), but will keep everyone posted as and when we have a better idea.
Hi Kieron,
It’s been a few weeks, where do we stand WRT irrigation?
Thanks.
Also, regarding this statement:
“In the interim, this means that everyone will be notified shortly of the permanent rule change going into effect on July 8th that prohibits irrigation.”
I don’t recall seeing any notification. Does this imply that the emergency rule has expired and was not replaced with a permanent rule? If not, can you provide a link to the board approval of the permanent rule change please?
Thanks!
Mike, thanks for the additional questions.
The plan to restart irrigation will be discussed and voted upon at this evenings Board meeting (Jul 21), there is some further information in the Board packet.
Regarding the permanent rule change, this did indeed go out and the prohibition still stands at this time.
Thanks. How can we learn of the result of the plan and vote, do we need to attend the board meeting or will the results be posted here?
Mike, yes, we’ll post an update to the website, plus I’m sure there’ll be the usual email blast once we have a determination on next steps and dates for resuming irrigation…keeping my fingers crossed that we are close.
Also, let’s be optimistic and say that the Cl test results come back positive. At that point, how long would it take until irrigation can be resumed, and what format can we be expected to irrigate? I would suspect it won’t be a free-for-all, has the board considered what irrigation restrictions will be in place *after* we are allowed to start irrigating?
Mike, good question. Yes, the Board recently approved a limited schedule for irrigation once everything is in place. It basically divides up the Key’s lots into groups and assigns a two hour window over night to each group, three times a week. The goal is to spread the irrigation out through the night when indoor demand is at its least.
please keep us updated. thanks!