It's All About Clean Water

What happens When The Well Runs Dry?

"It's All About Clean Water" is a recurring column exploring issues tied to water quality in our community.

What Happens When The Well Runs Dry?

My grandfather was a well driller. He used to say; "You never miss the water 'til the well runs dry." For that reason, we work hard at Mount Pleasant Waterworks (MPW) to plan ahead and prevent our wells from running dry. We recently lowered our pumps to 500 feet below ground to keep the water flowing.

While the well has not run dry, we have encountered a serious problem in Deep Well #1. A hole has developed in the well casing at 300 feet below ground and is pouring Santee Limestone water and sand into the well. This limestone water is of poor quality, smells like sulfur and the sand clogs our filters within hours. With this intrusion, we are forced to shut down Reverse Osmosis (RO) Plant #1.

Meeting our Demands

Reverse Osmosis Plant #1, located in the Old Village, produces 1.2 million gallons of drinking water per day. With RO #1 inoperable, our RO system capacity is at 85%. As a result, our system may experience low pressure during our peak demand periods. While we do not want this to happen, our water operators must lower our system pressure to hold water in storage to meet our fire protection needs at all times.

Conservation Methods

This summer is likely to be hot and dry, especially during July. So we are advising our customers now to think about ways to conserve water in case we have to call for conservation measures. Using low flow water fixtures can help reduce your demand, as well as using drip irrigation in lieu of spray irrigation. MPW has recently acquired a supplier of rain barrels that customers can buy at the operations center. These rain barrels in conjunction with drip irrigation systems are a neat way to capture and distribute water for weeks after a good rain. Please refer to our website www.mountpleasantwaterworks.com for more conservation information.

Plan for Drought

Should we have a serious drought this summer, our Commissioners will activate our Drought Response Plan , which has been approved by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. This response plan outlines our conservation efforts to reduce peak water demand so our system can meet our essential needs. While we have yet to implement our plan, it is better to prepare ahead and communicate to our customers that the potential exists.

Drilling a New Well

Our water supply wells in the Middendorf Aquifer range from 1,900 to 2,000 feet below ground. These wells are 16 inches in diameter, cost about $1 million and take one year to permit and build. Deep Well #1 was drilled in 1969 and has been one of our best water producing wells. Since repairs of well casing failures are not always effective and the well is 37 years old, we believe the best long-range solution is to construct a new well for plant #1. Obviously, it will not be ready in time to help out this summer.

All Customers Can Help Lower Our Peak Demand

Our water demands are increasing as we add more than 100 new customers every month. We are working to meet peak demand cost effectively by purchasing more water from Charleston Water System and making improvements to our system in accordance with our water master plan. Two such improvements include a new Aquifer Storage and Recovery well and a 2.5 million gallon ground storage tank along I-526. However even these improvements may not be enough this summer. Peak demand is greatly influenced by summer irrigation and customers can provide relief to the system by practicing conservation.

Rain Dance

So, if you see me doing a rain dance around your neighborhood this summer, you'll know why.

(Clay Duffie is General Manger of Mount Pleasant Waterworks and has more than 30 years of experience in water and wastewater management practice. He is a past President of the South Carolina Water Pollution Control Association and the SC Section of the American Water Works Association (AWWA) and has led numerous national seminars on environmental, leadership and utility management issues.)