CENTERVILLE — City officials have applied for a Bureau of Reclamation grant to help fund what it is calling the Drought Resiliency Project.

In this project, if it receives the funding, the city will replace the Porter Lane Well, replace and upsize the Main Street transmission line and implement aquifer storage and recovery improvements, Public Works Director Mike Carlson told Mayor Clark Wilkinson and the city council on April 5.

Although city officials have considered some locations for the new well and have preliminarily identified a site, nothing will be determined until funding can be obtained, Carlson later told the Centerville/Farmington Journal.

At current prices, the project is expected to have a $5 million price tag. The city has applied for $4 million from the Bureau of Reclamation and would need to match that with $1 million of its own funds. That $1 million would likely come from ARPA funds the city is receiving, City Manager Brant Hanson said.

“Having those funds would be a great opportunity for aquifer storage and recovery,” he said. “There’s some great opportunities here. I still think we should pursue a Utah state geological survey to understand our aquifer a little bit more to make sure our location is a great location, that we’re actually charging the aquifer and that the wells can pull from that same aquifer that we’re recharging.”

Although city officials have considered some locations for the new well, nothing will be determined until funding can be obtained, Carlson said. Plans for aquifer storage and recovery are also preliminary, he said.

“We’re still in the design stage,” he said. “What you try to do is capture water that you have your water rights for, then you treat it and dump it back into the ground. Then you’re able to pull it back out at another time.”

To support a new well which would be located somewhere on the south end of Main Street, the water line would need to be upsized from 100 South to 400 South, Carlson said. If the city moves forward with the project, it could employ various methods to recharge the aquifer. Water would need to be pumped to some kind of storage area (possibly a reservoir or well) where it could then be pumped into the ground.

Some areas of the project had already been included in the city’s 30-year culinary water capital facilities plan, he said. But “this one took us by surprise a little bit; we actually grew a little bit. The replacement well that’s kind of new as well as the aquifer recharge storage spot.”

That evening city council unanimously approved a resolution supporting the application for the grant. 

“It’s common sense; if we can get $4 million and we have to put up one; we’ve got to make it work,” Councilmember Spencer Summerhays said. 

“Some of those things we’re going to be paying for anyway even if it’s a few years down the road,” Councilmember Gina Hirst said. “That’s something to be considered when we’re looking at that $1 million. This gives us a lot of bang for our buck.”

Carlson said the timeline for this project is uncertain and depends on how long it will take to receive approval from the Bureau of Reclamation, if the city receives the grant. λ