Water was flowing from the Brown County Water Improvement District’s newly drilled test well on Saturday morning as they search for alternative sources of water; however, whether or not the district will move forward on drilling multimillion dollar production wells is yet to be determined.
According to Brown County Water Improvement District General Manager Dennis Spinks, the drilling of the test well located on Corrigan Street near the City of Brownwood’s Wastewater Treatment plant is finished. The $737,250 test well drilled by Stewart Brothers Drilling of New Mexico has reached the desired depth of 3600 feet, punching through the Ellenberger and Hickory Sands Aquifers. Water was found at depths of 1706-2900 feet where the well reached the Ellenberger and again at the Hickory Sands which was struck at 3200-3560 feet according to Spinks and Senior Engineer William “Billy” Gamblin, P.E. of DB Stephens and Associates, Inc., the engineering, geological and hydrology firm hired by BCWID to oversee the project.
Water which is from both aquifers is flowing currently at the well site approximately 40 gallons per minute, Spinks said.
“Having an artesian flow of water, no matter what the quality is, is encouraging,” said Spinks. “If there’s enough pressure to push that water to the surface, there’s a lot of water in the aquifer below us.”
Spinks stated that the main goal of the well was to find an alternative water source for Brown County, and now that this has been achieved, samples are being tested and analyzed to determine how this water would need to be treated and determine if it will be economically feasible to treat it in order to meet the state’s drinking water standards.
DB Stephens has taken samples every ten feet to document the geological formation as well as the water as the well was drilled. Samples will be documented by DB Stephens as well as BCWID where they will also be stored for historical data according to Spinks.
Initial testing of water samples from the Hickory Sands Aquifer showed a high concentration of salts, which will not be economically feasible to treat, according to Spinks. He explained that the Ellenberger Aquifer is expected to be a more usable water source.
“We were targeting the Ellenberger because initial data indicated it had a much better quality than the Hickory Sands,” said Spinks.
When the test well project was undertaken, BCWID was working to find this alternative source just in case Lake Brownwood’s levels kept dropping. According to Spinks, recent rains have helped ease the pressure put onto the district by the drought.
“The 5.5 feet caught in the lake weeks ago makes this project not as critical as it was two weeks ago,” said Spinks. He explained that the BCWID board was looking at possibly moving into Stage 4 restrictions, possibly Stage 5 if the elevation of Lake Brownwood continued to decline. At Stage 4 and 5, the State of Texas would expect BCWID to have a plan for an alternative water source. Having hit water this weekend relieves some of that pressure for Spinks and the board.
“At this point, now we have, timeline-wise, we have another year to work on what we’re going to do,” said Spinks. “We want to go slow, we don’t want to be forced to make a hasty decision.”
After finding the water, now the board has to figure out the costs of getting the water to the water treatment facility and how it will have to be treated. Spinks stated that he and the board have determined that they need to get information from this underground water and get a plan developed that can be “pulled off the shelf” (when needed) and put into place quickly. The design work for pipelines, production wells and updates to the treatment plant would be completed so that in years to come if the water from the aquifers was needed; the plan could be put into action quickly.
Although drilling the well was a nearly $1 million dollar gamble, Spinks stated that it is worth it, but that he hopes it isn’t necessary to use it in the near future.
“If the lake fills up, nothing would make me happier than if we had to shut this well down and let it sit for 10 years,” said Spinks. “We’re not looking at the next year or five years, we are looking at the next 10-20, maybe 50 years.”
Spinks explained that having an alternative source of water, even if it is not put into use immediately is very beneficial to Brown County, both for daily living and for future development.
“If Brownwood expands any, manufacturers looking to locate in the area are going to ask if there is a stable water supply. If we can’t prove we can supply water to them year after year, they will not come,” said Spinks.
The flow of the test well is not strong enough to provide enough water to be used at the treatment plant; however water from the aquifer could be used for irrigation or, once production wells are drilled, or it could be used as a monitor well, according to Spinks. The water flowing out of the well is being trucked to the retention pond at the City of Brownwood’s wastewater treatment plant and allowed to evaporate. Anything left in the pond will be disposed of after it is analyzed, said Spinks. The water is not able to be used at this time due to its high levels of salt, which would kill off nearby vegetation. It also cannot be trucked to Lake Brownwood due to unknown contaminants and salt levels as well, which could contaminate it as the area’s water source and impact it as an ecosystem.
The Hickory Sands Aquifer will be plugged off with cement according to Spinks to separate the two water sources, allowing for a cleaner sample of the Ellenberger to be obtained and tested. These samples are being sent to the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) lab in Austin. Results of these tests may take as long as two months said Spinks.
“With the 5.5 feet gain (in the lake level), things are looking a lot better for Brown County right now,” Spinks stated.
Pictured above is the test well. Photos of the activity at the well late Thursday morning are shown below.
Water flowing at approximately 40 gallons/minute from the well.
Sample being taken Thursday morning.
BCWID Treatment Plant Operator Dwayne Lewis takes a look at the sample he gathered.
Samples taken at each 10 feet of the drilling process.
BCWID General Manager Dennis Spinks shows a sample with floating solids taken from the Hickory Sands Aquifer at 2:00 a.m. Thursday.
