New well and pump station to provide water for residents and will be home to a park
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AMMON — A new well and pump station that’s being built in Ammon will not only serve the water needs of residents, but it will also provide the community with a brand new park, which will include a pickleball court.
On a tour with EastIdahoNews.com, Riley Bradshaw, the project manager from Keller Associates, showed us the new well and pump station, which will hold one million gallons of water.
“This well is sized to produce 4,000 gallons a minute,” Bradshaw said during the tour.
New well and pump station:
The new well and pump station is called “Well 13 and Pump Station” and is in the process of being built by the city of Ammon off of South Crowley Road.
“The city of Ammon’s drinking water is all groundwater. It all comes from the aquifer. We are very fortunate to live above the Eastern Snake River Plain Aquifer. It’s a very rich and productive aquifer,” Bradshaw said.
According to the city administrator, Micah Austin, the new well and pump station are required to be built and is needed to accommodate drinking water needs, irrigation needs and fire flow. The well and pump station are connected to the larger Ammon city water system.
Residents and businesses in the southern part of Ammon like the Woodland Hills, Highland Springs, Silver Springs, Cortland Ridge and Mountain Bend subdivisions will see the largest benefits from the new well and pump station. The benefits will include improved water pressure and water service reliability.
“This end of the city doesn’t have the number of wells that other parts of the city do. This is kind of the newer end of the city where lots of new development is happening. So putting this well down here was strategically determined,” Bradshaw explained.
According to Austin, not counting the new well and pump station, the city of Ammon has eight wells. Two of the wells are not operating at the moment. There are three pump stations operating and three tanks. Only two tanks are operating at this time.
The Well 13 and Pump Station cost $4 million and the money came from the Ammon city reserves. Austin said the project was paid for with cash. No debt was used on this project.
The new park:
There will be a new park that will be at the well and pump station that people can use.
“The site has been designed to be publicly accessible. This is going to function as a park as well as a public works site. Most of the city’s other well and tank sites are fenced off. They’ve got the barbed wire, the chain link (fence). We really wanted to make this site dual purpose,” Bradshaw said.
The city of Ammon received a $250,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to help landscape and build the park. The new park will be called the “Groundwater Conservation Park.”
The area will be landscaped with native plants and provide educational information about how to conserve water efficiently. Bradshaw said there are plans for a recreational space with a pickleball court that people can use. There will additionally be benches and picnic tables.
The park is expected to be completed by the middle of 2023.
As for the well and pump station, Bradshaw said water should be flowing in the next month or two.
