[HollyMutual-Announce] Irrigation Startup

[Holly Mutual Water Company]

All:

The Piedmont Well is now running and distributing water. The replacement distribution pump for the Whitehall Well is expected later this week, and Colorado Water Well is ready to install it, barring any unforeseen problems. We're going to start distributing water with only Piedmont, as is outlined later in this email.

At the moment the Piedmont Well can only pump 50 gal/min into its storage tank, allowing it to fill 24 hours/day. That's critical because we distribute water at 400 gal/min, far more than the well pump could handle directly. Roughly 20 years ago, the Piedmont well pump was running at 125 gal/min. Much of that drop in production is because the aquifer is getting depleted. However Piedmont has also been badly stressed over the past three years, because it's also had to carry the load for the Whitehall Well, while we've been fixing that well.

We won't know what the Whitehall well pump rate is until it's repaired and we can fill its storage tank. It was capable of 85 gal/min 20 years ago and likely has not suffered as much of a production loss as Piedmont. Nevertheless every year both wells drop in production.

The Holly Mutual irrigation schedule has remained nearly the same since 2003, but with dwindling production and distribution problems over the past few years, we've recognized that we can no longer provide water like we did in the past. The board will be meeting soon to discuss plans and options, and thus what I'm presenting here is only an interim plan.

Previously Holly Mutual distributed water for 7 hours per night in the early/late season and 10 hours per night in the mid/hot season. I assume most of your irrigation controllers were programmed to step through your irrigation zones one at a time, to fill the available hours. The problem is when the wells ran dry early or one well was not in operation, only some of the irrigation zones would be watered. What I've been doing myself since we started irrigating in 2000, is having a short cycle (2 hours) during which the controller runs rapidly through all of the irrigation zones. I then have that cycle repeated multiple times to fill the water availability. That way each zone gets closer to its share if the water runs out. This scheme is also preferred for watering clay soils in Colorado, to allow the soil more time to absorb water between cycles. A number of Holly Mutual properties are already doing this, based on recommendations I've given individually in the past.

A related advantage to this plan is Holly Mutual can schedule its distribution times to fit two hour blocks, starting on even-numbered hours, and when these change, you won't have to reprogram your controllers. The controller may run through a cycle when there's no water, but that shouldn't matter for most irrigation systems. You also won't have to reprogram the controller when we switch from the early/late season to the mid/hot season, because Holly Mutual will simply start two or four hours earlier. At the minimum we will distribute from 8:00 - 10:00 am, but we may start earlier at 6:00, 4:00, or 2:00 am, depending on the season and our well production rates.

*IMPORTANT: you are still only allowed to irrigate on the two days per week to which your property is assigned:*

http://www.hollymutual.com/WateringSchedule.pdf

This schedule will be revised after the board establishes its formal plan.

During the interim and as long as we only have the Piedmont Well in operation:
08:00 - 10:00 am is for irrigation
08:00 - noon is for system testing (no irrigation after 10:00 am)

Once Whitehall is returned to operation and until June 15:
06:00 - 10:00 am for irrigation

June 16 to August 15:
04:00 - 10:00 am for irrigation

This is subject to change, and we will provide more information when it's available.

Cheers,

Mark