Lake County Special District opens Spring Valley well to add a second water source

Lake County Special District officials held a ribbon-cutting to mark the completion of the Spring Valley well, a 560-foot production well officials said will add a second source of water for the community and reduce operational costs.

Capital project manager Adam Alfinda introduced himself at the ceremony and walked attendees through the new facility’s equipment, saying the district built the project to meet state-regulated redundancy requirements and to ensure a backup source if the primary well fails. “Hi, my name’s Adam Alfinda. I’m the capital project manager for Lake County Special District,” Alfinda said.

The well and treatment components are designed to pump roughly 200 gallons per minute through an 8-inch stainless-steel casing, officials said. Presenters described a site control system that calculates flow and runs parallel green-sand filters so only required filters operate; operators set the storage tank to start the well at an 18-foot low point and shut it off at 22 feet. The site was tied into power brought by PG&E and connected to a 400-amp breaker. During backwash, settled manganese is pulled from the settling tanks through ports and transported by pumper truck to the wastewater plant for disposal, officials said.

At the ribbon-cutting, Special District Administrator Robin Borre thanked local contractors and introduced the project team, naming Case Excavating, Caltech and Weeks Drilling among those who worked on the project. “We would first like to start by thanking our local contractors who worked tirelessly to get this project done on time and on budget,” Borre said.

Christopher Becker, area superintendent, introduced EJ Crandall, District 3 Supervisor, who called the upgrades “a lot more efficient for the water to be treated” and said the new system will ease community costs tied to pumping and outside services. Officials also said grant funding helped support the project.

District staff described the main operational features as finished and said the well will feed the distribution system and provide redundancy for Spring Valley customers. The ribbon-cutting concluded with applause and officials declared the project complete.