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I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I CHAPTER I V SPECIFIC PROBLEMS AND RECOMMENDATIONS A. GROUND WATER 1. History Available information indicates that the ground water table in the Town of San Luis has been relatively high since at least the 1930's when the Work Project Administration (WPA) installed a rock lined drain from Cu1ebra Creek north to 4th Street parallel to the east side of Hi ghway 159. Reports by long time res i dents i ndi cate that the drain was very effective in solving the subsurface water problems for the southern portions of the community located adjacent to this drain. Early homes in San Luis were built without basements or crawl spaces and were not affected by the high water table. In the early 1960's publ ic water and sewer service was made available in San Luis and many homes were retrofitted with crawl spaces to accommodate indoor plumbing. Also, many homes built in the northeast area of Town included basements. For several years, these homes were not bothered by ground water. Then in 1985 and 1986 during a "wet cycle", residents, particularly those in the northeast area of town, started experiencing water in thei r basements and crawl spaces. In order to dry out the basements, residents have been discharging their sump pumps into the sanitary sewer system, resulting in overloading the sewage treatment facility. (See following newspaper art i c1 es.) In 1986 and 1987, the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) conducted a prel iminary subsurface water investigation and recommended that a subsurface drain be installed to lower the water table. SCS made an initial cost estimate for installing the drain and began design of the line, however, the design was not completed due to lack of stUdy authorization and funding. -12-