November 11, 2013
The Central Utah Water Conservancy District is constructing a massive well field in Utah County which is receiving national attention. A major investment in Utah’s future as population growth continues to drive water demand, the project is the subject of an article in National Driller this month.
Since the project’s launch in 2011, Hansen, Allen & Luce (HAL) has assisted with well siting, hydrogeology, contamination studies, preliminary assessments, bidder prequalification, site engineering, and well design. HAL is providing monitoring, testing, evaluation, and other services during construction. Two pump houses designed by HAL are also being constructed.
Hydro Resources of Fort Lupton, Colorado, is completing the drilling.
Once home to Geneva Steel, the site will now supply water from deep in the earth. Five high-capacity 24-inch-diameter wells have been drilled to depths between 1,500 and 1,630 feet, setting new state records for water wells of that size. The stainless steel wire-wrapped screens used in two of the wells required a special design and may make them the deepest wells of their type in the world.
Pump testing on the completed wells exceeded initial estimates, with some wells able to produce more than 6,000 gallons per minute. The total estimated yield for the project is 25,000 gallons per minute or 40,300 acre-feet per year—enough to supply more than 140,000 people along the growing Wasatch Front.
“I am not aware of any other project that matches this one in overall scope,” said Dr. David E. Hansen, HAL’s principal engineer on the project. “This is the largest single groundwater development project ever undertaken in the state.”
Serving the water industry since 1974, Hansen, Allen & Luce, Inc., has completed hundreds of groundwater projects, investigations, and master plans throughout the Intermountain West.