By Sandra Mangelson
Times-News Correspondent
Long time residents of Levan can remember when city
ditches were used for irrigation. "Levan was a mighty dry
town," said Levan Irrigation Company President Golden
Mangelson. In 1979 an agreement was made between Levan Town
and Levan Irrigation Company to supply the irrigation water
through the culinary water system. Since that time Levan has
been a green town.
Marion Wankier added," We have a park and a cemetery
that stay green also."
At a meeting of share holders of the Levan Irrigation
Company on May 31, 2000, the Irrigation Board presented a
plan to put the two main concrete lined ditches running east
and west through Levan in 24-inch plastic pipes. This would
be the first phase of a project that would put the entire
Levan Irrigation system on its own separate system. This was
first discussed at the annual meeting of the company. Since
that meeting, the board had applied for a loan to put in the
first phase of the project. They had applied to the CUP
conservation fund to put sprinklers on the west side of the
irrigation company. They were turned down because they did
not have enough conservation for the amount of money
requested. At a later meeting with CUP, it was agreed that
if the Levan Irrigation Company would put in the two
pipelines it would be counted as the company's portion of
the project should the CUP agree to fund the project at a
later date.
The proposed pipelines would be down 2nd South and 2nd
North to the side of the existing concrete lined ditches.
The two pipelines would be connected on the west side of
town. Initially there would be a pond on the Chicken Creek
side of the project with a turbulent fountain to clean up
the water on the Pigeon Creek side. The pipeline would be
used initially only for water conveyance. Wells on the east
side of town and on 3rd West would be equipped so they could
pump water into the pipeline and to the pond if necessary.
The estimated cost of this part of the three phase project
is $697,000 to be paid pack over a 25 year time. There will
be no raise in the current $30 assessment per share for debt
service.
The current concrete lined irrigation ditches are
crumbling and to replace them would be as costly as the
proposed pipeline. The project would rid the town of
irrigation ditches, with the exception of the ditch that
runs from third north to the park.
The second phase of the project would make a
pressurized irrigation system in the town for irrigation
share holders. There are currently 200 to 250 irrigation
shares being used within the town limits. Every hook up to
the system would have a meter to be paid for by the share
holder. The share holder would also bear the cost of the
line to hook up to the irrigation line. It has not been
decided if the irrigation line would run to each property
line or if the irrigation line would run to a location in
common. It would then be up to the share holder to run the
line from this location in common to their property.
A roll call vote was taken of all share holders in
attendance. A yes vote from the majority of the 1590 shares
was needed to proceed with the project. The 52 attendees
votes to approve the project. The estimated completion time
will be in the Spring of 2001.
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