Othello moves forward with plan for new well

OTHELLO - Othello is moving forward with a plan for a new well.

The city council recently agreed to a plan for Well 9, which is planned to sit near state Route 17. The decision followed a prognosis by Groundwater Solutions hydrogeologist Kevin Lindsey, who originally recommended the city drill a pilot hole to determine the quality and location of the water.

He explained at a previous meeting the location of the well could be affected by two geological features, faults and dikes. The faults are vertical holes in the layers, which causes the water to drain down, and affects where it's located. Dikes are similar to an underground dam, stopping the water from flowing.

The features are somewhere between a Port of Othello and Othello's Well 8, Lindsey said. Depending on which side Well 9 is, it could mean the well doesn't produce a lot of water, and the city needs to dig deeper, possibly costing more money.

"We could have our locations for groundwater being much lower than we might expect, and that range of difference is up to 200 feet, and 200 feet in drilling when you're paying by the foot, is a pretty big deal," he said. "We don't have a great handle on where these water bearing zones are going to be."

The pilot well was estimated to cost about $200,000 more than digging the well, according to city records.

Lindsey proposed a third option at the meeting, which tries to minimize some of the costs, and maximizes the potential to get water. The first stage is drilling an about 20-inch wide hole between 240 to 440 foot deep. The top section would be sealed from the water present in the top levels.

"The reason we want to set and seal that deep is that the shallow sediments ... probably has nitrate in the groundwater. It may have other stuff in it. It's very low yielding in volume, and really isn't water you probably want to go after," he said.

The first section of the well will allow the city to know what side of the dikes and faults the well is on, Lindsey said.

"The sooner we know that. The sooner this whole thing moves along," he said.

At the bottom of the first section, Lindsey recommended drilling a 12-inch wide hole until the city reaches its goal for water.

"With the basic target of 800 gallons per minute, a 12-inch open hole will be more than sufficient to provide that and gives you the capability to produce more water relatively easily," he said.

The design allows the city to deal with sections of ground which may collapse into the hole, Lindsey said. If construction crews encounter an area which could fall into the well, they can widen the 12-inch hole and place a liner into the well to hold up the wall, while allowing water into the well.

"I want to use a somewhat oversized upper casing so we have the flexibility to deal with anything that happens below us, and then still have a good-sized hole below that," he said.

The plan allows the city to deal with fluoride it may find in the groundwater, sealing the section and leaving a fairly large hole, Lindsey said.

Councilmember Ken Caylor agreed with the idea. Compared with drilling an 8-inch pilot well, it made more sense, he said.

"We're talking about $170,000 more or less for (the pilot well.) This way you would be drilling the pilot well in effect inside this casing," he said.

He pointed out they need to get different figures from Gray and Osborne to determine the cost of the new plan.

Gray and Osborne Principal Larry Julius estimated the costs should be significantly less than what they have been estimating.

"We were looking at anywhere from $775,000 up to $946,000, depending on whether we did a 20-inch production hole all the way down to about a 1,000-foot depth or a 20-inch production with a smaller pilot hole," he said. "We could be anywhere in the $600,000 to $650,000 without having to do that pilot hole."

He credited the potential savings to the narrower section of well beneath the cased portion. Julius wanted to speak to Lindsey and generate a range depending on the best and worst case scenarios.