Holtville’s artesian wells are bust, not boon
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 3, 2008 at 7:53 amFrom the Imperial Valley Press:
Between a credit union parking lot and a crumbling laundry room for a dilapidated apartment building is a flow of Valley liquid gold. It’s an unlikely site to find a stream of clear water, bubbling to the surface from hundreds of feet below. It could be transformed into an oasis in the desert, a spring of artesian water to be bottled or a source of ever-flowing need in a statewide drought. But for now, it’s a city nuisance.
In the last couple of months an artesian well east of Holtville’s city square in an inconspicuous gravel alley has erupted into a producer of an estimated 14,000 gallons a day. Although the well is not unique, there are six known sites believed to be tapped into the same aquifer. Recent seismic activity made it overflow.
The alley was flooded as city staff replaced a 1-inch drainage pipe with a 4-inch pipe to handle the additional flow. “It definitely increased after the earthquakes but we don’t have any kind of scientific data,” Holtville Public Works manager Gerry Peacher said. Since a series of earthquakes in May, the output has nearly quadrupled, Peacher estimated.
And it shows no sign of stopping.
Read the full text of this article from the Imperial Valley Press by clicking here.
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14,000 gallons per day = 9.7 gal/min = 15 af/yr
Enough to irrigate 3-5 acres.