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Second well dry; city to drill at rodeo grounds

After coming up dry at Dogtown Well No. 2, the city will try its luck drilling at the Williams Rodeo Grounds.

Patch Karr, well consultant, said drilling crews should be underway at the rodeo grounds around Nov. 1 at a site located between the horse barn and the city yard.

At a special meeting called 10 a.m. Friday, Williams City Council gave unanimous approval to moving to the rodeo grounds after hearing drillers had hit minimal water at Dogtown No. 2.

"We reached the contract depth of 4,000 feet on the well and had the first show of water at 3,670 feet," Karr said. "We air-tested at 3,600 feet and there was no water, then air-tested again at 3,905 and got 1 1/4 gallons per minute."

Given the small amount of water present, Karr asked council whether they wanted to go forward with Dogtown No. 2 or abandon it and search for water someplace else.

Cindie Travis, a geologist with Southwest Ground-water Consultant Services (SGCS) made a comparison between the two Dogtown Wells. SGCS of Prescott is on contract with the city to provide hydrological information during the drilling process.

"The rock formation in each is quite a bit different," she said. "With the first well, the top of the Red Wall limestone was at 3,150 feet with water under artesian pressure, which raised the water table to 2,750 feet.

"At Dogtown No. 2, we hit the Red Wall at 3,200 feet but it was dry."

She said the major difference at the second site was a volcanic intrusion at the 3,540-foot level.

Don Bills, hydrologist at the Flagstaff U.S. Geological Survey office, said at Dogtown No. 1, the Red Wall layer was completely saturated with water and recalled drillers were able to air-lift 40 to 50 gallons per minute, which yielded production as high as 250 gallons per minute.

"The amount air-lifted at Dogtown No. 2 doesn’t bode very well for production," he said.

He went on to surmise that if there had been water in the Red Wall layer, the volcanic material found is likely to have displaced it, which is not all that uncommon.

Dan Barnes, councilmember, expressed concern about abandoning Dogtown No. 2 after sinking so much money into it.

"We’ve spent about $1.5 million on this well and we need to get aggressive in getting help from the federal government and state even if comes to hiring a lobbyist to move in that direction," Barnes said. "We can’t ask the people of Williams and Coconino County to do more."

After voters passed a $3 million bond to fund water exploration in May, United Drilling from Roswell, N.M., got the bid on the project and has had drilling crews in town since late August.

Council went on to discuss two new possible sites for exploratory drilling, one at the rodeo grounds, the other the A-1 well drilled a half a mile south of the Garland Prairie exit. Bills explained it was initially drilled for a private water company and believed it airlifted 10 to 20 gallons per minute but was not cased and collapsed.

Barnes read a note from Dale Perkins, councilmember, stating Forest Purdy who owns the land in the vicinity of the A-1 site is willing to donate land to the city within a couple hundred yards of the original well.

However, council determined obtaining ownership would set drilling back as much as 30 to 45 days.

Karr said if the A-1 site is pursued, it would prove cheaper in the long run to drill a new hole nearby rather than trying to clean out the original breached hole.

"I like the A-1 idea," Karr said. "It makes my job and the city’s a lot easier. A lot of money has already been spent, and we know there is water there."

Ken Edes, mayor, pointed out the city could start on a well at the rodeo grounds right away since it’s already city-owned property. At the same time, he urged pursuing the groundwork on securing the A-1 site.

Councilmember Cary Price made a motion to finish up research on the Dogtown No. 2 site and move the drilling rig to the rodeo grounds. His motion also included pursuing federal money to fund a fourth well near the original A-1 site.

Barnes seconded the motion, and council gave it unanimous approval. Councilmembers Don Dent, Bernie Hiemenz and Perkins were absent from the meeting.

"United will probably drill under the same terms as the previous contract but may vary the hole size depending on the initial test boring," Karr said.

Dogtown No. 2 was drilled at 36 inches to 90 feet, then at a 12 1/4-inch diameter below that depth and reamed to 17.5 inches.

Dogtown No. 1

Although production temporarily dropped down to 177 gallons per minute, Ron Stilwell, city water superintendent, said it’s resumed its former production level.

"We thought the static level was dropping but the metering device needed changing," Stilwell said. "Once that was taken care of it’s back up and maintaining 230 gallons per minute."


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