Infrastructure Issues: Water

On Monday KSL did a story about Goshen’s water problem.  

Except that isn’t the whole story. I met with Goshen Mayor Fred Jensen back in June, that’s when I found out about the problem. I’ve been meeting with mayors to find out about the issues each city deals with. He said the spring providing water had E. coli. Then in July I met with another south county mayor that told me Mayor Jensen had applied to for a grant to take care of the water. But I still felt like I didn’t know the issue, so I finally was able to speak to Marie Owens of the Division of Drinking Water. She explained to me that the grant would pay for chlorination equipment to clean the water, but there is no guarantee that the E. coli would be cleaned out of the spring. She also said each city needs to have a minimum of two sources of water and suggested drilling for a new well, using a new spring, or contract with another city to bring in their extra water. Although I thought other cities might be able to use river or lake water depending on their geography. I called back and spoke to the clerk in the Goshen city office and she clarified that the five homes in the KSL story are not in Goshen city limits, they are actually in the county unincorporated area.

This means technically these five homes would be in the jurisdiction of the County Commissioners. I have learned that the county government does not provide for infrastructure like an incorporated city would. The home owner needs to have their own well and septic tanks. I plan on meeting with all the people that live in the unincorporated areas since those are the people I will serve as a County Commissioner when the people elect me.