Preliminary results of pumping at two water wells this month in Licking County indicated positive results – meaning each could potentially provide millions of gallons of water a day.
Testing at a freshly drilled well just west of Granville indicated the aquifer is healthy and could deliver 4 million gallons a day with very little impact on existing wells, according to Granville Village Manager Herb Koehler.
Glenn Marzluf, general manager and CEO of Del-Co Water Company of Delaware County said that consultants for Del-Co pumped 72 hours straight the week of Dec. 8 at a property south of Utica along the North Fork of the Licking River.
“Our consultant seemed pretty positive,” he said. “I’m guessing she’s going to give us good news and we’ll buy the property.”
He said monitoring wells in the area showed that water levels in the aquifer “came back very quickly.”
Marzluf said he is awaiting final recommendations from the consultant. Given the initial positive indications, he expects that Del-Co will buy the property “and probably sit on it for a long time” until the water under it is needed.
Del-Co needs to make a decision in January, because that is when its last extension on an option to buy the property runs out.
In Granville Township, the City of New Albany hired engineers to conduct a test on land the New Albany Company purchased from Granville Township Trustee Dan VanNess, whose term ends this month.
The search for water is inspired in part by rapid growth and development in central Ohio, including western Licking County, and also by a promise the State of Ohio made to Intel to make sure the computer-chip manufacturer had the water it needs for its $28 billion campus just south of Johnstown.
Since then, dozens of data centers have been built in Licking County, and they have a thirst for millions of gallons of water to cool their computer equipment.
The Village of Granville was invited by New Albany to be involved in the well testing and hired engineers to represent village and Granville Township interests.
Koehler said 72 hours of pumping ended at 1 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 18, at the well site along Raccoon Creek north of Moots Run Road.
“One adjacent farm experienced discoloration of water,” Koehler said, adding that engineers responded immediately and found that water quality at the farm well was the same as before the test pumping began but had a higher iron content.
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Owners of private wells in the area had been alerted to the testing so they could monitor their wells, and the engineering companies monitored several nearby observation wells – including wells currently used by the Village of Granville to supply drinking water to residents of Granville and the Village of Alexandria, which contracts with Granville for water.
“Early indications are that the direct impact to our wells was minimal,” Koehler said. “During the test, we were able to pump the amount we always do without any impact.”
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Among the work yet to be done in the test is to monitor the recharge rate of the aquifer – the amount of time it takes for the water level in that underground reservoir to return to the pre-test level.
Another test of the same aquifer is scheduled for sometime in February at the Geiger property southeast of Alexandria – the same property that has been the subject of concerns about a proposal by Shelly Materials company to build and operate asphalt- and concrete-mixing facilities there.
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“After that test is complete,” Koehler said, “all of the consultants will get together and do a data analysis.”
That analysis will include engineers hired by the village, he said, and they hope to have final results by March.
He said village officials have been impressed by the work being done by the Columbus firms of Eagon & Associates and EMH&T, which are working together on the testing and analysis.
“They’ve been very good to work with, as have the New Albany Company and the City of New Albany,” Koehler said.
“We have a very good partnership,” he said. “Everyone has a keen interest in a sustainable water supply long into the future.”
Alan Miller writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.