DEL.ICIO.USPiedmont Park comes up dry on second well
Festivals want to return, but park needs more water
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Monday, September 08, 2008
The Piedmont Park Conservancy has yet to hit pay dirt.
Its second attempt to drill a well that would provide enough water to free the park from the city’s resources, and its watering restrictions, came up dry.
At stake is not only the viability of Atlanta’s central park, where a dozen 100-year-old trees have already died, but also the large-scale festivals that have called it home.
Given the brittle conditions of the land, Atlanta’s parks commissioner early this year banned from Piedmont Park the larger festivals, those that draw more than 50,000 people, including the Peachtree Road Race, Atlanta Pride Festival and the Dogwood Festival.
This summer, organizers of those festivals called for the city to allow them to return to the park, citing the financial hardship and instability caused by new locations that were less suitable.
In preparing for next year’s festival, the Atlanta Pride Committee is “planning for the worst, which means we can’t get into the park,” but is hoping for a compromise solution, said Deirdre Heffernan, chair of the group’s board of directors.
This year, festival organizers had to change the weekend to find a suitable venue — the Atlanta Civic Center — and in the process lost more than $160,000 on the event. They struggled to find last-minute sponsors and drum up attendance. And whereas the civic center cost $80,000 to use, the park only charges for repairs, which usually run $10,000 to $12,000, Heffernan said.
But there’s more to it than the money — it’s the longing for the feel of the park. “To enjoy the green space and toss a Frisbee, that’s just all part of the relaxation of the event,” she said.
The office of Dianne Harnell Cohen, commissioner of Atlanta’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs, had no comment on the latest development in the plight of the park.
The two drilling attempts cost the Piedmont Park Conservancy $50,000 apiece. The first attempt in June led to a well that generates 50 gallons of water per minute, enough for a residence, said Monica Thornton, the conservancy’s vice president and chief marketing development officer. That will help to water the trees, but the conservancy also needs water to maintain the athletic fields that underwent a $2.1 million renovation, not to mention the rest of the park.
As the Conservancy pursues a 53-acre expansion north of the park, it could attempt to drill more wells, Thornton said. The park has identified seven potential drilling sites.
Even without the large festivals, the park is “still getting a lot of use and still very fragile,” Thornton said. “This park is for Atlanta,” she said. “It’s always been a fairground. It’s always been the gathering spot for Atlanta, and it always will be our mission is to protect the park and conserve it as a cultural amenity for all of Atlanta.”
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Comments
By frank
Sep 9, 2008 12:08 PM | Link to this
The fact that the well produces fifty gallons per minute does not mean it will do that consistently or has any relation to the cost of the well. Many wells will produce up to 50 gpm for a few hours at which point the water level will have dropped to below a sustainable pumping threshold, at that time pumping must cease until the well has been allowed to recharge (which can take hours to days). The size of the hole, casing and the depth of the well determine the cost. To compare it to a well you had drilled in your backyard is like comparing your home a/c unit to the one that they put on top of a building. An agriculture type well such as the ones they are likely drilling can be more than 16" in diameter. No drilling company will drill a well with the guarantee of hitting water, especially in a fractured crystalline-rock aquifer that we have around Atlanta.
By Tamika
Sep 9, 2008 11:52 AM | Link to this
We all should poop and P in the park to help fertilize and water the plants.
Problem Solved
By Matt
Sep 9, 2008 11:17 AM | Link to this
Just a clarification... the PPC is not supported by taxpayer dollars. It is entirely funded by members and other donors - so any money that was used to drill the well was NOT funded with taypayer dollars. The city of Atlanta does virtually nothing to help maintain it's premier park.
By Parched
Sep 9, 2008 11:14 AM | Link to this
$50,000 for a 50 gal/min well? I wonder which relative of what Atlanta city government official got that contract? And what did they pay for the dry well? I'll bet the contractor didn't drill for free.
Oh, and 50 gallons per minute is no small well. That's a lot of water in 24 hours of collecting. But other posters here are right: ignore the grass, save the trees!
By Having a dink moment
Sep 9, 2008 11:05 AM | Link to this
The drought has been on for years and years, and is worse in the Midtown area because of the severe heat-island effect that causes the thunderstorms to bypass the whole area (watch the weather radar during pop-up thunderstorms). No real rain for years upon years, no real ground water to tap. Coupled with the fact that the entire region has been paved all the more, so there is less open ground to absorb water to re-charge the retreating ground water...
Treating the park like a business is what the PPC and the City HAVE been doing years - increasing the number of Class A events that beat the place to a pulp, crush the tree roots, abrade the grass to dust... Last year it was to the point that there was an event EVERY weekend in the park. So Piedmont is run into the ground, while other parks are under-utilized.
Oh, and how come their drilling is costing $50k a pop? Who's footing THAT bill?
By Jeff
Sep 9, 2008 11:03 AM | Link to this
No surprise! We have had very little rain here in Midtown this summer, as compared to hefty storms all around us. Have you seen Lake Clara Meer lately. It is down 2 or 3 feet and dropping daily. I might also add that the drop has revealed tons of debris from our lovely bums that hang out around the park that no one really seems to care about. It's disgusting! Forget about the wells and just hope for rain.
By Kerry
Sep 9, 2008 10:53 AM | Link to this
Why does it cost $50,000 to drill 1 well in Piedmont park? I live 25 miles from there and my new well was $10,000. It's 300 ft deep and puts out 40 GPM. More than likely, it was a closed bid process where only friends and relatives of the group that approves the bids could submit bids. So it was padded sufficiently where everyone got a cut seeing as it is taxpayer money anyway. Another thought is, why didn't they hire a well company that only gets paid if it hits water? That's because the more dry wells they drill, the more they get paid.
By Gigi
Sep 9, 2008 10:21 AM | Link to this
Hopefully, they will keep trying to find water, continue drilling until they have a well of sufficient output to save the park, the trees and restore the beauty of this treasured Atlanta park. But with a draught of biblical proportions enduring for the last three years, it would seem that something drastic needs to happen.
By Sparkie
Sep 9, 2008 10:05 AM | Link to this
Jason...I agree with you 100% A little common sense goes a long way. We are losing trees there? That is stupid and reckless. Forget the grass, but it takes a long time to produce the fine trees that provide shade, moisture and which help to reduce global warming. Without any shade, warm weather events are rather miserable, too.
By A1502235
Sep 9, 2008 9:47 AM | Link to this
Well its too little too late. That indispensable park ought to be available for diverse uses and sponsored resources mobilized accordingly but is useful primarily as recreational and a place to withdraw for thought and reflection; yup to walk the dog The trees could've been preserved if anybody really cared.
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