SOUTH JORDAN — Although many are pleased that Kennecott and the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District have chosen a plan to pump and treat contaminated groundwater near several west-side cities, some private well owners worry the guys with the biggest straws may suck the area aquifer dry.
Concerns over the water rights of small well owners were discussed Wednesday evening during a meeting of the Southwest Jordan Valley Groundwater stakeholder forum. The forum includes environmental, private well owners and city, state and federal officials, whose mission is to settle on a solution to cleaning up groundwater contaminated by Kennecott's decades of mining activity.
Given Utah's sixth year of drought, some forum members asked how the project might effect the area's underground aquifer.
Last month, the Jordan Valley district board accepted the forum's suggestion to pump water from two contaminated plumes and run the water through a reverse osmosis filtration system. The residual elements of selenium and sulfates would then be piped to Kennecott's tailings pond next to the Great Salt Lake.
The purpose of the project is two-fold, said district assistant general manager Richard Bay. The first is to keep the plumes from spreading into nearby cities and clean up contaminated areas. The second is to provide filtered water to nearby cities as drinking water.
Although forum members have indicated this to be the best possible solution, some private well owners, who mainly use the water for agricultural purposes, worry that Kennecott might get overzealous and drain the aquifer too fast.
Forum member Betty Nalor, who represents private well owners in the forum, reported Wednesday that in an April 27 meeting with local well owners, the No. 1 concern was the project's impact on their water rights and how much "draw down" would occur.
"I want to know what our real rights are from the water division," Nalor said.
Bay said both the district and Kennecott would field complaints from well owners and that the state Division of Water Rights would determine if the project's draw on area water would be deemed unreasonable.
Paula Doughty, director of environmental affairs for Kennecott, said her company had already tested about 1,000 wells previously and that the data could be used as a baseline to determine if water levels are dropping too low. Bay said the water district will help.
A total of nine wells are expected to be drilled into the contaminated plume beginning this fall, but water officials say the construction of needed pipelines and filtration plants may be four years down the road.
E-mail: gfattah@desnews.com