(Harlan) Harlan Municipal Utilities CEO Ken Weber says the engineers released the water development report this past week. HMU survived the summer after implementing a Tier One water warning due to the drought conditions. HMU lifted the water restrictions this past week.
Weber says HMU is now focusing on the Geotech Design Phase of the project. “We received a report from our engineers for our water development project, and that involves replacing all of the old piping in the wellfield, which is highly corroded old steel,” said Weber. “In addition to that, we’re anticipating drilling four new wells.”
Weber says the project will take about 18-months to get the piping done and new the wells into production.
Weber says they got through the peak water demand period this summer, and by the end of August, water demand was under the 85-percent target. He says, as a result, they decided to return to normal operations, with the caveat customers still conserve wherever possible. “We want to express our appreciation to our customers for their conservation efforts,” said Weber. ”
Weber says the aquifer is no longer in decline and somewhat stabilized, but it will take a period of time before it replenishes to get back to the same condition before the drought.
