Othello Wells

Varela goes deeper to bring more water to residents and industry

Due to a dropping aquifer water level, Othello struggled to meet increasing summer demand for potable water for the growing population and industries of this central Washington city of nearly 8,200 residents. The limited capacity of City wells sometimes necessitated emergency water restriction announcements to the community. Several large industrial water users relied on the City for their water supply. Disruptions caused significant problems for these businesses and it was feared that they might relocate elsewhere, significantly affecting Othello’s economy and employment.

Varela worked with the City of Othello to develop a new deeper well and to replaced an existing crooked well to generate greater water resources for the community and to increase reliability and lower maintenance costs.

Well 9 Details

The new 16-inch diameter well was drilled to approximately 900 feet in the Wanapum basalt aquifer. The well provides 1,500 gpm and is equipped with a VFD to allow variable pumping rates. One-and-a-half miles of 16-inch transmission main was laid from the well site and connected to the City's water distribution system. A CMU block piping house and a removable metal building was constructed over the wellhead and pump. The removable building allows direct access to the wellhead for pulling the pump for maintenance, rehabilitation or modification of the well. The site includes a discharge pond for the deep well pump control valve, and was also prepared for the future construction of a reservoir.

Well 3 Replacement Details

Othello’s old number 3 well had plumbness and alignment issues (crooked as a dog's hind leg), which caused the City’s line shaft turbine pumps to fail prematurely. Pumps that should have lasted 20-30 years would fail after only 3-5 years, causing expensive reliability and maintenance problems, that hindered Othello’s ability to reliably supply water to it’s community. Varela engineered and oversaw drilling of a replacement well approximately 50-feet north of the existing well. The new well is plumb and aligned (straight as an arrow). This 20-inch diameter, 900 foot deep well fully penetrates the Wanapum basalt aquifer, increasing the reliable pumping capacity to 1,400 gpm. The pump has a VFD which allows variable pumping rates.