The Tooele City Council has approved a contract to complete the construction of a pair of wells with the potential to greatly increase the city’s culinary water capacity.
The council voted unanimously Wednesday night to sign a more than $800,000 contract for the construction of a well house and pump line for the newly completed well at the Bit and Spur Rodeo Grounds, in addition to $90,000 the city will pay to purchase a pump for the well.
The well has already cost the city more than $1 million to drill — about $300,000 more than the city initially anticipated — but Tooele City Engineer Paul Hansen has said that the well has great potential to increase the city’s water capacity, making the added expense well worth the cost.
The well is anticipated to add between 1,200 to 1,500 gallons per minute to the city’s culinary water supply. Tooele City Mayor Patrick Dunlavy estimated that, upon completion of the rodeo grounds well, as well as two additional wells the city has also completed in the last few years, the city stands to increase its culinary water supply by about 50 percent.
Funds for the new wells come out of the city’s culinary water impact fees. These fees are paid by new homes and businesses that contribute to the fund from which the city can draw for projects such as the new well.
The city did come under fire early last spring when the Bit and Spur Riding Club turned out at a city meeting to protest a proposal to construct a one million gallon water tank on the rodeo grounds.
However, the city settled the dispute in that same meeting when the mayor announced that the water tank project had already been canceled.
The well house and pump line are expected to be completed by April of next year.