Bad week as Lompico loses two of its three water wells to motor damage
The grip of California’s historic drought on a Santa Cruz Mountain town got tighter.
Lompico lost two of its three wells this week when their motors failed.
While they were able to repair one, there’s still another well to get up and running or residents could run out of water in a matter of days.
Lompico Water district president Lois Henry has an assembly line of conservation in effect at her house.
“Every time I turn my faucet on, I think ‘how can I use less water’?” said Henry.
It starts with the outdoor shower, using a bucket to catch the water as it warms up.
She then fills a tea pot with that water and heats it up to do her dishes.
The water that falls in another bucket in the sink is used to water her plants.
“They’ve got to be aware of what’s going on,” she said referring to Lompico residents.
Not only is Lompico in a phase three rationing stage– which means no water use between specified hours and no outdoor irrigation– but with two out of their three wells went down,”it means we have a lot of work to do,” Henry said.
The well that went down Monday can’t be up and running without a bacterial inspection.
If that doesn’t happen, Henry said the town could run out of water.
Another option is to take water out of the creek, but she said low rainfall totals make it impossible to tap.
Henry added that the state is providing an inter-tie between Lompico and the San Lorenzo Valley Water District, but that won’t be running for at least two weeks.
