The “Legacies” column on page A2 of last week’s SUN contained a description from Nov. 7, 1924, of a well being drilled on the Pagosa Springs High School campus, which produced 114-degree water at 380 feet.
At that time, the high school was located where the middle school now sits. Still, 90 years later, there is talk of drilling a new geothermal well near the high school, this time at its new location south of downtown.
Kirsten Skeehan, of Pagosa Verde, was on hand at last week’s town council meeting to explain the purpose of the well and, in particular, why she was asking for a permit to temporarily exempt the drilling operation from the town’s noise ordinance.
Town Planner James Dickhoff began the presentation by explaining that Police Chief William Rockensock normally is responsible for issuing noise permits, but since this request is for such a long period of time, he felt town council should decide whether or not to approve it.
Dickhoff then showed council a map of the area and explained where each well will be located.
At a later meeting of the Pagosa Area Geothermal Water and Power Authority (PAGWAPA), Skeehan explained the reason for doing thermal gradient (TG) wells is to take scientific measurements, in particular changes in water temperature, at several different locations in order to map out where the underground faults are and to determine the ideal location for a deeper test well.
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