Holly Trustees Review South Well Problems/Solutions

Holly Depot

Holly resident Jerry Smith was probably speaking for more persons than himself and his wife, when he asked for an update on the town’s south well repair situation during the March 2nd Trustees meeting. The town has shut down the well because of sediment being produced by the spray caused by a cracked check valve and water is now being supplied by the north and east wells which have some issues with rust content.

Town Administrator Jerry L’Estrange and Interim Mayor, Jerry Jones, said some progress is being made and L’Estrange said he expected an update sometime late next week from a firm in Colorado Springs that has been advising the town on the problem, which is now about two to three months old. “We’ve sent a camera down the well and we estimate we have a cracked casing which is stirring up sediment,” he explained.  He added he hasn’t been able to find out why the metal pipe has a pvc line running inside of it, but the engineers were able to only get down to 146 feet to track down the problem.  “One of solutions is to expand a balloon inside the pvc which should lift that pipe out for examination,” he told Smith.

Field Services Supervisor, J.W. Neal, added that some of the rust sediment comes from the water tower on the south side of town. Smith said rust particles are clogging his shower heads about every two days and he’s replacing a lot of water filters to reduce the sediment.  Neal explained that the well pump is filling the water tower, but it flows through two cast iron mains which feed the tank and the water will sit there until it’s needed and then it flows back through bringing rust down the lines.  Mayor Pro-tem, Jerry Jones, told Smith that reports from the state show the water is at safe drinking levels, but it’s a problem all the same for residents.  Neal said he can add more chlorine to the water to eliminate the iron bacteria, but that also adds to the chemical taste of the water.  L’Estrange said the consultants may have a clearer indication of the next steps to follow.  He had mentioned at an earlier Trustee meeting that he’d rather not incur the cost of digging up the problem well if it could be avoided.

By Russ Baldwin