Ten Sleep votes down Nowood water agreement at council meeting

TEN SLEEP – Ten Sleep Mayor Jack Haggerty introduced a vote at the regular monthly town council meeting to end negotiations with the Lower Nowood Improvement and Service District (LNISD).

With a majority, 3-2, voting to end the agreement, the year-long proposal officially came to an end Tuesday night. Dennis Sheperd and Ernie Beckley opposed the motion to allow Lower Nowood to drill their own well with Wyoming Water Development Commission funding.

Previously, the LNISD and the town had been crafting a water use agreement to potentially supply town water to residents of the LNISD, for a contract period of 30 years.

During a Oct. 26 public meeting with the LNISD and Wyoming Water Development Commission (WWDC) Director Harry LaBonde Jr., it was expressed that the town would not be able to move forward with a provision to the agreement that prohibits out-of-town town water users from drilling private wells without town approval, to minimize possible contamination or pressure issues. Labonde warned that any such provision would result in the WWDC requesting funds from the State of Wyoming to drill a well into the Madison Aquifer and supply the LNISD with water directly.

At Tuesday’s work session, preceding the council meeting, Mayor Haggerty introduced “Plan B” as outlined in the proposed agreement, to let the LNISD continue on their own with assistance from the state, rather than tap into the town’s water supply. “Nothing has really been resolved after a year,” stated Haggerty to representatives of the LNISD, “but we learned a lot.” Mayor Haggerty explained that they had heard nothing further from the WWDC, and that if the state wanted to make Ten Sleep a “regional water supplier,” as expressed by Labonde, then chances were good that the systems would all be connected in the future regardless of the town’s decision.

WWDC Director LaBonde will present his recommendation to drill and supply water to Lower Nowood residents at the joint meeting of the WWDC and Select Water Committee on Nov. 5 starting at 8:30 a.m. at the Wyoming Oil & Gas Conservation Commission Office in Casper.

“I guess we’ll just have to see if the state approves the well [for LNISD],” said Mayor Haggerty.