The Hanceville Water and Sewer Board will no longer investigate a local well as a possible second water source — an investigation that has already cost taxpayers approximately $200,000.

During their regular meeting Tuesday, the board motioned their attorney Dan Willingham, to send a letter to Hanceville resident Jimmy Hamrick stating they were no longer interested in his well and he is free to do whatever he wants with it.

The city entered into a written agreement with Hamrick last year to conduct preliminary tests on the well — tests that incurred a $200,000 price tag.

“I think nobody is bound to anything … just to do a study,” Willingham said. “The contract has been fulfilled, in essence.”

Board member Doug Batemon said despite months of waiting, the board had received the Alabama Geological Survey’s verbal, but not its written report on the well.

“In the verbal report, the gist was the well would not be suitable for us to use,” Batemon said. “I don’t think we should commit to him (Hamrick) until we have something in writing. Until we get the report back, I don’t see us spending any more money on it.”

Hamrick offered the 2,850-foot well to the city last year as a backup in case the area experienced another serious drought like it did in 2007. During that drought, Hanceville’s current aquifer went dry and the city was forced to purchase water from the city of Cullman for several months.

In a previous meeting, Hamrick said he had not received any feedback from the board since they had an initial geologic survey done on the well in July. He added that he needed a decision quickly since he had been recently contacted by a company interested in bottling the well water.

The Hamrick well got its start in 1922 when prospectors were drilling in search for oil in the area. The prospectors did not find oil, but they did find plenty of water. Hamrick’s family has owned the well for the last 75 years and used it as a water source for livestock.

In other business, the managers of the Hanceville Water Treatment Plant, ClearWater Solutions, stated the plant flow was over capacity 29 of 31 days in May, due to 13.37 inches of rain that fell during the month. As a result of the excessive rainfall, the total water flow for the month was 32.9 million gallons for an average of 1.1 million gallons.

The facility’s design capacity is 570,000 gallons a day.

May marks the sixth consecutive month of state regulation non-compliance for the plant.



‰ Patrick McCreless can be reached by e-mail at patrickm@cullmantimes.com or by telephone at 734-2131 ext. 270.