The McKinney City Council plans to reconsider the possibility of using water wells as an additional source of drinking water, as the city continues to live with water restrictions while North Texas remains in a drought.
The council will revisit a study in January about using water wells as drinking water, which the city did before it joined the North Texas Municipal Water District. The city had approximately 18 wells that it used before relying on surface water from the NTMWD, for which Lake Lavon is the primary source. The city ceased using the wells after it joined the water district.
Mayor Bill Whitfield asked the city to look at possibly building one or two underground water wells last summer after the city entered Stage 3 of the NTMWD's drought contingency plan. The NTMWD's new pipeline from Lake Tawakoni in Hunt County isn't expected to go online until sometime between November 2007 and March 2008. The NTMWD is expected to remain in Stage 3 of its drought contingency plan throughout 2007 unless a major, ongoing series of rain storms increases water levels at Lake Lavon and Lake Chapman and allows cities to loosen water restrictions.
LBG-Guyton Associates Inc. of Dallas performed a feasibility study concerning the possibility of the city constructing and using one or two wells, and presented it to the council on Sept. 5. The council tabled any action regarding the water well study.
The city paid approximately $22,500 for the study. Most council members' comments have not been positive, because the cost of constructing two wells would be approximately $4,933,600. That amount includes estimated construction, engineering and surveying costs.
The figure is double the price of purchasing the same amount of water from the water district.
“If we were to drill a well, the estimated cost would be approximately $2.37 per 1,000 gallons, which is operation and maintenance of your water well. This is about two times what it would cost to get water from the NTMWD. But if you don't have water, then what's it worth? My wife and I pay $5 for 24 bottles of water, and for $2.37 per 1,000 gallons of water you're getting a bargain,” Whitfield said on Friday.
“I went to a mayor's conference in November in Atlanta and guess what? Everyone was talking about water. Do water is a concern whether you're in California, Kansas, Nevada - so it's not just in McKinney, Texas,” Whitfield said.
It would take seven to eight months to construct an existing pump station for the wells. The estimated time for acquisition of a well site and pipeline easements, design, bid, phase, and well and pipeline construction would 10 to 14 months, according to the study.
The wells would use water from the Woodbine Aquifer and the Deeper Trinity Aquifers.
The study states that the Woodbine Aquifer could provide approximately 250 to 300 gallons of water per minute per well. It is used as a supply for smaller towns, greenscape use and golf course irrigation, and is potentially limited to provide small supply to augment the city's existing supply.
The Deeper Trinity Aquifer could provide 650 to 900 gallons of water per minute per well and would supply water to augment the city's existing supply.
The three wells the city used before joining the NTMWD were screened for the Deeper Trinity Aquifer and the Woodbine Aquifer, but they have been plugged with cement and abandoned.
The study also states the estimated annual cost the city would pay to maintain and operate two wells at 3,100 feet below ground would be approximately $395,836 for 20 years with a 5 percent interest rate. Part of the reason it would cost so much is that the wells would be between 3,000 to 3,100 feet below ground.
The cost of using water wells doesn't scare Whitfield. He hopes the council will reconsider the option of using wells as an additional source of water.
“Had we been able to move forward, we could have had a well come online in March 2007 or April 2007. More than that, I think the citizens would feel better knowing that an effort had been made,” Whitfield said.
If the council were to ever approve the construction of building a water well in the next few months it could possibly be online and serving city water users near the time the NTMWD gets Lake Tawakoni online.