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By Melissa Sevigny, Arizona Science Desk
WILLIAMS, Ariz. - The quest for water is a constant in Arizona and the West, and that quest is going to new depths – literally – in this northern Arizona town.
The town is drilling a well, and a fluke of geology is making the project complex and costly.
Drilling is under way at a site called the Sweetwater Well, just off Interstate 40.
"The main driller here has drilled in, I think he told me, 45 states and overseas, and this is by far the worst place to drill," said Pat Carpenter, a consultant for the Williams City Council.
Geology is to blame. The groundwater here is so deep that the city had to hire a drilling company that typically digs for oil and gas, not water.
"These guys will drill 12,000 or 15,000 feet for oil," Carpenter said. "We’re lucky enough we only have to go 3,000 feet for water, if you call that lucky."
Most towns on the Colorado Plateau can find water 1,000 feet down. That’s because they tap into the “C-aquifer,” named for a thick band of Coconino sandstone. Flagstaff, Holbrook, Winslow and towns across the Mogollon Rim all draw water from it.
Williams, however, cannot, because the C-aquifer beneath the city is dry.
"As you move from Flagstaff westward toward Williams, water in that C-aquifer system is migrating deeper into the subsurface," said Don Bills, a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Flagstaff. "You have to go much deeper to find another regional groundwater flow system."
The aquifer the Williams well drillers are seeking is so deep it feeds springs in the bottom of the Grand Canyon and so wide it extends beneath most of the Colorado Plateau, Bills said. So far, few cities or towns have had to resort to using it. Bills said that’s something that might change.
"We’ve definitely moved into a drier climate trend," he said. "Most of the communities in northern Arizona and throughout Arizona are going to start having to make adjustments to match those trends."
Even if drillers reach groundwater, which they haven’t yet at the Sweetwater well site, it’s not a cure-all for a long-term water supply, he said. A recent study using NASA satellite data showed more than half of the world’s largest aquifers have declined in the last decade, stressed by human demand.
"There’s no doubt that water is becoming an issue, all over the country, particularly in the Southwest," said Williams Mayor John Moore. "I’m hoping we’re getting out ahead of the curve, and we may be the frontrunners to at least taking care of it locally."
The City Council recently voted to raise water rates on residents and businesses to cover the cost of new infrastructure. Williams also reuses treated wastewater on the local golf course. Moore himself practices water conservation in the restaurant he owns downtown.
"At night when we close down any water we’ve got left in glasses or pictures we pour on our plants and trees," Moore said. "You do everything you can to conserve water. It’s the mindset of everybody in the Southwest, or should be."
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