GUERNSEY – The water line construction project is underway in Guernsey, with current activity involving boring under the railroad tracks north of town.

“Once boring is started, it cannot stop,” said Mike Fronapfel during a council meeting earlier this month, adding that it is a long process that can take up to 21 days. Furthermore, the state inspector/geologist must be on site until the process of boring through the ground under the railroad is complete.

This stage of the waterline project is one step to improve the Guernsey water supply using a grant obtained through Wyoming Water Development Commission in 2019.Though fraught with delays for several years, mostly due to the Covid shutdown and reduction in supplies and manpower, The Town of Guernsey is finally moving forward with plans to improve Guernsey’s water supply system.

“Kudos to Mayor Ed Delgado. He’s the one that spearheaded things to get [the project back on track] before we lost the matching grant funding,” Guernsey Town Planner Chuck Porter, said.

“I’m happy it’s going again,” Mayor Delgado said, adding that when he got back into office, he got the ball rolling to keep the grant active. “It’s going to be good to improve the infrastructure, that’s for sure.”

In a community assessment several years ago, it was determined there would be a benefit to the community’s health, welfare, and quality of life to change the way the water is transferred from the wells to the tap. While all the water is regularly tested and is safe to use and drink, the water comes from the wells and connects directly into the water system, Porter explained. Disinfectant is introduced to the water before it gets into the main water supply, but currently there are five disinfectant points in the system. The plan is to change all that by creating a new water line from the wells to the water holding tank, thus having only one point of disinfecting and alleviating the problems experienced by residents with their water and ensure reliability.

As the system is currently, some homes that are closer to the disinfection points have high chlorine content in their water, while others on down the line have very little because it dilutes as it goes down the line, Porter said. That problem will be eliminated when construction on the new system is completed.

“All the water is safe to drink,” Porter emphasized. “The water is regularly tested and is within code so that’s not an issue.”

In addition to updated and improved safety features at the tank and maintenance areas of the system, water pressure is another thing the Town hopes to improve by changing how water comes into the town’s main line.

“I can see it in my own yard every summer. The sprinkler can be watering my lawn and moving great, then when more people are using water, the pressure starts to go down and it’s barely moving at times,” Porter said. “With all the water coming from the tank, the water pressure should improve so that doesn’t happen.”

After this section under the railroad tracks is complete, it will be winterized, with construction to resume in April and a tentative completion date sometime in the Fall of 2024.