| Show elios water increased through uranium mill help Al monticello town derives its water from springs on the mountain side west of town several springs in pole canyon were tapped to form the original source of culinary water the the system was later extended to include several springs in bankhead canyon on the north and still later extended to include the large lare innes spring in north creek as well as some smaller springs A screen was also built in the creek bottom so that the waters from the creek could be diverted into the pipeline when necessary most alost of these springs are tapped by burying a pei perforated 1 rated pi pipe p e through which the water see seeps Ps into n the main line this necessitates cleaning at least once a year in the case of the screen in the stream bottom of north creek there is no provision made to keep sand and gravel out of the pipe line lina which runs around the mountain side to connect with the other lines from bankhead and pole canyons last fall because of added work I 1 with the sewer installation the I 1 town personnel did not have time to make the annual cleaning that the feeder pipes require which has been part of the reason for the towns water shortage the article which follows written by a mem mcm ter of the galigher staff at the request of the editor will explain some of the other contributing factors the galigher companas Comp anys help was very timely since t the he town the facilities or personnel to effect immediate correction of the difficulties editor on wednesday march 22 the water shortage became so critical that many people on the west side of town were vere without water and the uranium mill was faced with the necessity of shutting down their operation such a shutdown shut down would have thrown some 80 employees temporarily out of work As a result of this critical condition mr air butler resident manager for the galigher company organized a party to go up to the reservoir in the pole canyon area the party consisting of john butler bob thompson Hutc hutchie hiell hutchison ralph robson and wally johnson all of the galigher company and bob pehrson of the town of monticello left for the mountain at 4 am on thursday march 23 the party drove about a mile and a half in a jeep and two trucks above the ranger station three pairs of snow shoe shoes were picked up at the ranger station the only ones available on such short notice the trip on foot from the first impassable snow drift across the road to the reservoir was vas not too difficult although those without snowshoes had to crawl on their hands and knees across a number of snow drifts the party arrived at the junction box just north of the reservoir and found that no water at all was coming through the pipe line from the north creek intake an inspection of the reservoir showed it to be empty and that an 8 inch valve used to draw water from the reservoir into the town water ater main had been frozen and aw broken during the winter and upon thawing part of the valve had broken off thus allowing approximately one half of the water coming into the line from the springs in pole canyon to run to waste two members of the party wally johnson and bob pehrson were sent back to the mill shop to have a wooden plug made to stop this flow of water out of the system john butler and ralph robson then started along the pipe line for the north creek intake while thompson and hutchison remained at the reservoir to make an examination of the pipes in that a area re a they found a number of leaks in pipes leadin leading into tile the main and in the main itself these leaks apparently have been caused by sand and gravel getting into the pipes and abrading the pipes as the sand and gravel travels w with ith the water upon the return of johnson and pehrson with a wooden plug the broken valve at the reservoir was plugged which resulted in double the flow of water down the main pipe inspection at the north creek intake showed a large flow of water coming into the pipe line while no water was coming out of the lower end of the line at the pole canyon junction box the loss of this water may be due to either a in or by this pipe having been worn through by gravel moving in the pipe the party arrived back in town about three in the afternoon the return trip was extremely difficult most of the way the sun havin having 0 melted the crust on the snow each step the party sank knee to waist deep in the snow As a result of the trip however the amount of water coming through the town system was approximately doubled this relieved the water shar shortage tage at that time but this week another shortage developed xen men from the galigher company located a serious leak from the head box above town water leaking into the old wood stove pipe and going to waste in company with bob pehrson three men frota the galigher company made repairs at the head box monday afternoon lack orf of water on th west vest side of town iown monday afternoon and tuesday was on account of the necessity of keeping the head lox drained down in order i to allow the concrete repair job to set |
