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Show Nine holes drilled - no water; costly project not yet been completed by Southern Utah State College's water laboratory, the water's quality may be unsuitable for culinary use by itself although it could be diluted with the city's other water to obtain a useable quality. The first well drilled pear Milt's Stage Stop by local company then Grimshaw and Clark Drilling (now that firm if Grimshaw Drilling), reached 1300 ft. and was stopped by cave-in problems, loss of a drill bit in the hole and serious injury to a member of the drilling crew. The site was abandoned and the company received $25,000 for its work. All other wells, for the most part, have been drilled by Superior Drilling of Evergreen,Colorado. They were in the area at the time that Grimshaw's pulled out drilling test holes for a city exploratory report on the Kolob Water Project. Starting in fall 1979, Superior continued drilling with one well being drilled to 100 ft., another site being worked twice and the fourth well looking very promising according to a review by Bulloch. The geologist, city council and engineer all were expecting a real gusher but something happened and exactlywhat that was is difficult to determine. Maxfield explains, "This well reached 1700 feet. When we started there had been a good volume of water but the upper part of the hole had to be sealed off because the water there was not of a good quality. The bit farther down got stuck and the hole had to be plugged at that point and the hole was drilled further going around the trapped bit." Where is the water? Geologists, drillers and city of- ficials were enthused about finding I water in the Navajo sandstone I geologic formation in Cedar Canyon I but drilling efforts have been stopped after spending $222,296.27- I well over the approximately $150,000 I originally allocated for the ex- ploration. According to consulting geologist I Blair Maxfield, the Navajo sandstone .historically produces good quality j water usually in a large quantity f varying from 330 gallons to 4600 ' gallons per minute. The geologic j formation "sealed" by fault lines in ' ' Cedar Canyon also seemed to make j the source ideal for proving it as a i new water source with the state engineer's office in the geologist's opinion. The city's hopes were high. Few funds had been spent in the past on water exploration and savings from the reduced pumping of water from the wells in the Quitchapa area to the city were imagined to be substantial if water in the canyon could be found and gravity flowed to the city. A new water source would also have been valuable to the city. City Engineer Matt Bulloch at one point estimated that a water source in the canyon could provide the city with up to $25 million in water rights. So what happened? The last well drilled is the only producing well. The city was disappointed disap-pointed with the 100 gallon per minute flow from the source-they had been hoping for a flow of 400 to 1,000 gallons per minute. While water tests have Maxfield reports that at one point water came within 30 feet of the top-an top-an indication of a good water source. Bulloch did not think that the hole had sufficient water in it. "We had 50-120 gallons of water per minute at one point and were using a booster compressor. When we shut down, we got stuck again," he explained. Stuck for the second time in the same hole, Maxfield felt that mud used to get out cuttings which were thought to be jamming the bit from the air drilling, had sealed up the formation and advised that the hole be drilled deeper. "We had gotten floods of water and more pressure than we could handle so had ordered another large compressor. com-pressor. At 1300-1400 feet, we were getting 125-135 gallons per minute. In my personal opinion, I don't have any explanation. We don't know what the volume was and we don't know the exact quality. The mud sealed up the hole, we went around it, but there was no water below. We just don't know what happened to the water which had been above," said Maxfield. Last Chance Hole The last hole does produce water-its quality is still being tested. It is the fifth hole and counting the four observatory ob-servatory holes drilled around it, the total number of exploratory wells drilled, total nine. "The site for the last hole was our last choice. It is right in the fault system so its recharge area is much smaller," explained Maxfield. Bulloch thinks that the well produces enough water that the city should not drop it. "At 80-100 gallons a minute that's 220 ac. ft. of water and in today's market its worth about $125,000." The lack of success is made more difficult since a representative of Rhodes Brothers Pump Sales andf Service reported that they have recently worked on a well for St. George in the Navajo sandstone formation in Snow's Canyon which now produces 2900 gallons of water per minute. "We've about exhausted the exploration ex-ploration money. We thought it was a . good gamble and I would have done it " - again'. I thihk that the drilling should now stop. We need more information and right now I don't see any alternatives," alter-natives," said Maxfield. - Where was the money spent? Funded through a one million dollar water bond passed by voters in 1978 along with a $2.2 million in general revenue bonds, the water money is also being used by the city to purchase pur-chase and install water tanks and make some changes in its water system. The bulk of the funds spent in the exploratory work-$132,459.12- went to Superior Drilling. Since late Dec. 1979, they have been on an hourly contract of $120 per hour ,plus a per diem allowance of $25 per man for housing and food costs for the rig's owner and three crew members, as well as the city footing the costs for any drilling mud, bits or other items used in the operation. The city has also been responsible for any bits or tools lest down the hole in the drilling process and has paid for several small bits. According to Bulloch, the most expensive item of this type which the city has paid f or was 80 ft. of drill pipe costing $20 per foot which was lost down a hole. Other expenses have totaled $18,000 to Bulloch Brothers Engineering with an additional $30.48 paid to Sco't Bulloch and $339.40 paid to Matt Bulloch; $26,585.76 to Grimshaw Drilling;$1076.10 to Blair Maxfield; $2099.75 to Haliburton Services; $210 to Nevada Testing Lab; $500 to J & M Oilfield Supply Co.; $7,741 to Western Air Drilling; $1840.53 to Boyle Brothers Drilling; $8,807.35 to Custom Pipe and Supply Co. ; $950.42 to Pacific States Cast Iron Pipe; $2,441 to Grant Oil Tool Co. ; $226.69 to Waterworks Equipment; $75 to Derral Stratton; $460 to Jenkins Oil Co.; $376 to Smith Gruner; $10,533.32 to NL Baroid-Nl Industries; $1,208.80 to Eastman Whipsock; $885.15 to Rice Machine Works; $5,355.78 to Mountain Air Drilling Service; and $71.62 in miscellaneous expenses. The final decision on whether the city has even gotten the 80-100 gallons per minute found at the last well drilled has not yet been made. The State Engineer's office gets the final say on whether this water will be approved as a new water source for the city. The city council has to review the results and decide whether to do further pumping tests on the one producing well. A brief pumping test was done for the report to the state engineer's office in which the "drop off" in water in four surrounding observatory holes was measured when the main hole was pumped. "There weren't any guarantees on these exploratory wells. We intend to further examine the 1700 ft. well and Blair Maxfield is preparing a log on it. The city needed to look into this option," op-tion," concluded Bulloch. |