Council expresses concerns about Rubio Canon Water's well drilling project

The Altadena Town Council expressed some concerns at Tuesday night's l meeting about the noise from a well drilling operation sought by a local water company.


Rubio Cañon Land & Water Assn. president Janet Fahey said that the water company is looking to drill a new, 300-ft. well in a parking lot owned by them at 3371 Rubio Canon Road, near the Rubio Wash just north of Loma Alta Drive.

The new well is to replace the existing 120 ft. well at the site, which was hand-dug over 100 years ago and is in poor condition, Fahey said.

The project came before the town council's Land Use Committee, where the members expressed concerns about the noise such drilling would create, according to councilman Gino Sund. 

Fahey said that, normally, drilling is a 24 hour a day process; however, the drilling contractor, Layne Christensen, has a process to limit drilling to 12 hours a day, from 7 AM to 7 PM, five days a week.  In addition, the drillers will put up a noise abatement structure to offset the noise to the equivalent of a conversation, Fahey said.

The process will probably be in two phases, Fahey said: digging a test drill to see if it wold be worthwhile to do a full well, followed by a full drill.  Fahey said it would take ten days, although it was unclear if this would be for the main well or also include the test drill.

If the county approves the drilling -- there's a hearing scheduled for Aug. 2 -- the county will notify homeowners within 1,000 feet of the operation.