The Mona Town Council faces a difficult task: determining how to provide an adequate water supply for expected growth.
Doran Kay, council member, said he received a price list from Jay Franson of Franson-Noble & Associates Inc. for tasks the firm thought the town would need to have done in order to research water development possibilities.One of those would be to possibly obtain the water rights in the Banana Farm area, east of Mona in the Mount Nebo area. The farm has a large well. It will cost the town $225 for Franson to research title information on the property, Kay said.
Mayor Kevin Young said he thought it would be a good idea to study the water right and find out if it still existed. If it is unfeasible to obtain the water, he said, or if the right was abandoned, then it would not be available for Mona to purchase.
Kay said the engineering firm had estimated it would cost another $425 to find out if there was any record of the well in the state engineer's data base.
Franson said the firm would look for both physical information such as depth to water and water rights information.
Franson said it would cost $975 to evaluate groundwater conditions in the vicinity of existing wells in the Mona area. "We need to estimate withdrawal amounts (rate and volume) before impacting adjacent wells," Kay said.
Kay worried that withdrawing water from the area would adversly affect wells in the area owned the Mona Irrigation Co.
For this reason, he said, it was likely Mona Irrigation would not be drawing water at the same level as the community would be if they were to take over the well on the Banana Farm.
Franson also suggested a study to evaluate alternatives, benefits and costs of placing pipe from the Banana Farm well to the existing water tank located near Mona Cemetery.
Kay said the water could be taken to the other head house by drilling underneath the freeway, but he said the cost might be prohibitive.
Young said if the water were taken under the freeway then a new treatment facility, tank or reservoir may need to be built.
Franson also suggested evaluating the alternatives of developing the Banana Well vs. developing a new well that would cost the town approximately $650. Kay said he was interested in seeing what the difference in costs would be.
"If we go with this recommendation, we would not need to worry about costs of piping from the Banana Farm," Young said.
Franson said he thought it was a good idea to evaluate water right No. 53-401 to determine the viability of increasing the value of the water right. It would cost approximately $275, he said, to complete the evaluation.
Franson said the water rights belonging to Larry Ostler need to be reviewed, and the quantity of water evaluated for future use. The price would be $300.
Franson also suggested that, for $850, he assist in preparation of the town's application to the Community Impact Board (CIB) for the funding request, prepare the estimate budget of funding needed and coordinate with town officials.
"Do we need any assistance?" asked Kay.
Franson suggested evaluating options for redevelopment of the spring the town currently uses for water, making a site visit, design appropriate modifications to the spring, make drawings, create a recommendation for a construction plan, prepare a cost estimate, and assist with permitting with the Forest Service.
Kay said he thought it was a good idea to investigate the possibility of improving the water flow at the large undeveloped Vest Spring or find out if there was a possibility of developing water at the site.