CEDAR CITY — The vehicle pulls through a red gate and parks in a cleared area surrounded by sculpted canyon walls, where crews are slowly drilling into the earth in search of water for Cedar City.
Cedar City Mayor Garth Green took Snickers bars to the work site, handing one to each crew member while checking on the status of the project. It was the first day of drilling for the new test well at Martin's Flat in Cedar Canyon.
Crews from Mike's Drilling were on-site after submitting a successful bid of just over $604,000 to drill the well in June. They had drilled about 20 feet before Cedar City News arrived on Tuesday, with a goal of reaching 2,100 feet under the surface. Green estimated that it's the eighth well drilled since he became mayor.
The work is part of a larger effort to procure more water sources for the city, with aquifer levels dropping 2 feet or more each year, and state-mandated cuts to water rights planned to begin in 2035, Cedar City News previously reported.
