Spring City weighs moratorium on new water hookups as springs and wells fall

Spring City Council spent the longest portion of its July 9 meeting on the town's worsening water supply, hearing staff describe sharp drops in spring output and discussing a possible six-month moratorium on new culinary hookups.

Public works director Corey told the council that spring production has fallen substantially compared with last year and said, "we lost 1,700,000 gallons from what we produced last year," describing a situation in which wells have run for weeks and city storage tanks have dropped. Corey said the city already has cut landscape watering at municipal sites to two days a week and reduced irrigation to conserve supply.

The council asked staff to prepare cost estimates for the increased electricity and pumping costs tied to running wells and to analyze options for covering those costs. A council member noted that higher pumping increases the city's utility expenses and suggested the council may need to consider a temporary rate adjustment; staff said the moratorium resolution under discussion would include review triggers (every 30 days) and possible temporary rate changes if needed.

Separately, a resident and property owner identified as Ashley presented a conceptual project tied to a southeastern annexation that would install a parallel 12-inch transmission line and a loop to 600 South to capture pressure from an upper tank. Ashley said preliminary modeling shows the new pressure zone would yield 93'102 PSI and available fire flows between 1,580 and 2,567 gallons per minute but cautioned the plan depends on several neighboring properties annexing and sharing costs. Staff said the city already holds an easement for part of the 12-inch line and estimated the city's near-term exposure for a key segment at roughly $200,000; Ashley cautioned the full loop would require much larger investment.

Council members agreed to put water supply and the proposed moratorium on the work-meeting agenda for July 30 to consider funding allocations (including about $459,000 of contingency identified for related projects), work through technical details, and decide whether to call a special emergency meeting if conditions deteriorate sooner. The council emphasized prioritizing Spring City residents and existing service areas before pursuing larger buffer-zone or annexation-driven work.

The council did not adopt the moratorium ordinance that evening; staff will return with cost estimates and a proposed ordinance or emergency timeline for formal action.