Genola is forced to ration water

GENOLA — Genola residents are diligently taking shorter showers, flushing the toilet less frequently and letting their lawns brown to save water — and it's not because they are worried about drought.

The city has only one water well, and on May 21 the pump unexpectedly stopped working. Genola's entire population was left without culinary water.

Genola is borrowing water from neighboring Santaquin just to keep the toilets flushing and the faucets running. The city pipes in about 200 gallons of water per minute.

"It's enough water to keep us at least sustaining life here," said Phil Harold, who is in charge of Genola's public works. "We can't fill our swimming pools and run all of our sprinklers — it's just enough water to make sure people have water to drink."

The pump, which has been out of service for nearly a month, won't be up and running for at least another two weeks, Harold said. The old well was due for a deep cleaning — build-up was interfering with pump efficiency — and the structure around the well was crumbling.

Most Genola residents are taking the dead grass and short showers in stride, but some worry that the water problems won't stop when the pump is fixed.

Kathy Chapwin, 44, said the city has struggled with water problems for years.

"For a while it will be OK," she said, "then all of a sudden it will start slowing down and the water pressure drops in half."

The city is currently considering doubling its size by annexing a new subdivision by Utah Lake. While the city plans to require the subdivision's developer, Mountain Shores Development, to build another water well and two water tanks, some residents aren't convinced this will be enough to compensate for the strain put on Genola's water system by so much growth.

"If the city can't maintain the water for the people who are already here, how are they going to maintain it for all these new people?" Chapwin asked.

This isn't the first time Genola has had to rely on its neighbor to keep its residents in water. When the well pump broke down eight years ago, the city called Santaquin for a favor.

"It's a wonderful back-up plan," Harold said. And at this point in time, the city has no intention of developing an alternative emergency water plan.