water supplies

The City relies on wells to provide domestic water needs for the residents of Becker. We have 4 wells but only 3 are used at any one time. They provide a capacity of 1050 gallons per minute of output. This provides the city with a pumping capacity of 1,512,000 gallons per day a maximum capacity. These wells are considered shallow at 45 to 55 feet deep. We can't go any deeper as we hit bedrock with these. For the months of May and June the city delivered 56.8 million gallons of water throughout the city. This is generally a July/August amount of water consumption. In June alone we averaged almost 1.5 million gallons per day, just meeting our capacity to provide the water. What occurs is the pumps are running 24 hours per day and filling up the water towers and during the day the use draws them down. Looking at these quantities we can't help but look towards the need for a new supply well. But we also need to look towards water conservation. By far the largest use of water is sprinkling of lawns. Keeping our lawns green can be seen as important but meeting domestic water needs for drinking and other domestic uses is far more important. In addressing this problem the city council is considering the addition of an additional well but in the meantime domestic water usage takes a priority. Please consider water consumption as a valuable resource.