The City of Rawlins saw record levels of snow this year and residents are wondering whether this will improve their water issues. Officials say it is too soon to know.
More than a year ago the City of Rawlins literally ran out of water for several days. This was largely due to some serious infrastructure issues, but also drought.
City officials say they hope that the record winter might improve the situation, as the Rawlins area has not seen this much snow in over 70 years. But, the snow keeps piling on.
“It is still snowing and the mountains have not even started to melt off yet,” said Cody Dill, the Rawlins public works director.
Much of Rawlins’ water comes from a natural springs in the Sage Creek Basin, and that area is literally buried in snow. Dill said last year in February the area had 20 inches of snow, this year the same it had nearly 90 inches.
“Right now what we're worried about is it melting too fast,” Dill said. “The ground is frozen up there, and if it warms up and melts too fast, it's not going to get down into our aquifer that we pull our water from.”
Dill said ideally, temperatures need to warm slowly so the snow can melt into the ground. But even if that happens, that water could be lost to leaks in the system.
“We know that there's leaks in that system and it is not working properly,” he said.
The city is working to overhaul their water infrastructure – they replaced 10,000 feet of piping last year. This year, they hope to get the water pre-treatment plant up and running, which would allow them to process higher volumes of water.
Dill said the hope is to have the system rebuilt in five to 10 years. Right now, they are still securing funding. They are applying for money through the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, which is a federal fund that is intended to rebuild America’s aging water infrastructure. Wyoming recently secured $62 million. Dill added that they are also applying for a loan through the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Dill said the city will know more about water flows from this winter by mid-May. That will largely determine what kind of water usage restrictions will be in place for the summer. On and off last summer residents could only water lawns once a week.
“We are definitely hoping for a lot better than last year,” Dill said.
Meaning residents will likely be able to water lawns and gardens more regularly and water restrictions will likely be focused on turf.
