The Brown County Water Improvement District #1 (BCWID) board of directors unanimously approved lease terms to drill a test well as they search for alternative sources of water in Brown County.
The district has been researching the possibility of tapping into several aquifers for an alternative source of water as the central Texas drought continues to linger, making Lake Brownwood a less reliable water source than in years past.
The site selected for the test well is located on 41 acres owned by Jeff Lemmons.
“This well site is located a quarter of a mile south of the original Hot Wells,” BCWID General Manager Dennis Spinks said. “What we are looking for on this is to get a sample of the Ellenberger aquifer and the Hickory aquifer. To do this, a test well is going to have to be drilled.”
The lease terms approved by BCWID will give the water district ownership of the well, but the property owner will be able to use water for irrigation purposes on his land in exchange allowing the district to drill the well. Spinks said that the district will not incur any other fees, aside from the actual cost of drilling, unless the well produces enough water to sell to other property owners for irrigation purposes. If the test well produces enough water to sell for irrigation, the district would pay a royalty to the property owner for that water sold. Spinks said that the property owner would have the option to purchase the well in the future if the district chooses not to use the well.
“We will not be paying any fees for this site,” Spinks said. “The only thing we will be doing is we will furnish water, if the water is there and it is usable, to that property owner for irrigation purposes.”
The well cannot be used for municipal purposes, but only for testing for the possibility of drilling production wells.
“What we are utilizing this for is to get a sample of water from those aquifers and find out if the water is there and if it is usable as a municipal source,” Spinks said.
Spinks said that other property owners and the city of Brownwood offered property for the drilling of test wells, but ultimately the location of this property was ideal.
“The reason that we are looking at this property; it is a quarter of a mile south of the original Hot Wells, it is right next to lateral 11 which we have an easement for, and there is three phase power close to the location. That is the three benefits in choosing this site over any of the others that are out there at this time.”
Spinks said that Lemmons has verbally agreed with most of the terms of the lease.
“I think it is a win, win situation. A win for the district and a win for the property owner,” Spinks said.
The district also approved to begin advertising for bids for a drilling contractor to drill the test well. Officials anticipate that the bid could be anywhere between $300,000 and $600,000 depending on the company. Spinks said that if the bids come in too high, the board might have to adjust the project to cut some costs.
Billy Gamblin, senior engineer from DB Stephens and Associates, is working on the project with the water district to not only perform testing on the test well, but to create and implement a plan moving forward on production wells as a water source for the area if it can be justified after testing.
Pictured – BCWID board president Mark Campbell & General Manager Dennis Spinks during the board meeting.
