John C. Williams Aqueduct & Wellfield - Phase I & II

The wellfield is designed to improve both the quality and quantity of the water supplied by the Authority by blending high quality ground water with our existing surface water supplies from Lake Meredith.

Phase I & II Wellfield Area


Purpose

The Conjunctive Use Groundwater Supply Project developed by the Authority consists of a field of 28 wells, expandable at a later date to as many as 45 wells, located in western Roberts and eastern Hutchinson counties of the Texas Panhandle. A blended mixture of well water and lake water is being delivered to ten of the cities, with Borger receiving its well water directly at its clearwell.

Water rights for the project were acquired on 42,765 acres of rangeland. Depending on the quantity and quality of water available in Lake Meredith, which has varied over the last 10 years from around 300 to 740 milligrams per liter of chlorides, 27,000 to 30,000 acre-feet of water per year will be pumped from the wells. The permit obtained from the Panhandle Groundwater Conservation District #3 allows pumping of up to 40,000 acre-feet per year in normal circumstances, and up to 50,000 acre-feet per year in unusual or emergency conditions.

The conveyance facilities which deliver the well water to the point where it is mixed with water from Lake Meredith consist of approximately 36 miles of 54" pipe and two pump stations. The intersection of the old and new aqueducts is located about five miles south of Fritch in Carson County. The collection system in the well field consists of nearly 35 miles of pipe ranging in size from 8" to 30".  There are two booster stations in this system which deliver the water to the first storage tank.

The John C. Williams Aqueduct and Wellfield Phase I was placed in operation in December of 2001.  Phase II consists of two additional wells which were added in mid 2008.

	Photo at left shows the step drawdown test of our first prototype production well. This well is capable of pumping 2250+ gpm of high quality water!

Photo at right shows the installation of 54" pipe for the John C. Williams Aqueduct & Wellfield.