SAN CLEMENTE : Collapse to Delay Completion of Well

A collapsed drill hole will push the completion of a city water well dangerously close to the start of summer.

Failing in several attempts to redrill the well, a contractor is being forced to switch drilling procedures, a move that will delay the well’s opening to June 15, water officials told the City Council.

Council members unanimously approved spending up to $45,000 to pay for additional costs expected by Santa Ana-based McCalla Brothers Pump & Drilling.

The well is expected to supply about 600,000 gallons of badly needed water daily to the seaside community. Last summer the city experienced a shortage that brought the council to the brink of imposing a water-rationing measure.

Drillers blamed a large cave 400 feet below the drilling site for the collapse. The well will be near the San Clemente Golf Course.

“We’ve drilled into some kind of cavern down there,” said Curt McCalla, assistant drilling supervisor. “This is something that you experience pretty rarely.”

The company will switch to cable drilling, an older, slower method that sends a pipe down as the hole is being drilled.

The procedure could bring the total cost of the drilling operation to almost $250,000.

When completed, the well will become the second in the city. Combined, the two water sources will be able to pump over a million gallons daily to San Clemente.