Oooops. With Mormon temples popping up faster than Starbucks and Subways, it was bound to happen. The Heber valley temple, after digging about 8ft underground (to create the standard basement for the golden calf baptismal font), construction crews have hit the water table.
The solution? Rusty’s temple must press forward. It was ordained by God, of course. The church plans to continually pump massive amounts of water out of the water table, forever. Indefinitely.
Wouldn’t you love to have a massive Mormon building pumping millions of gallons of water out from under your house? I know I would.
In hindsight, I’m sure DCP would have been more than willing to do a site survey with his pair of oak twigs. He has a proven track record of being able to find water underground and could have saved the brethren from this headache.
Premise 1. Eyewitness testimony is notoriously unreliable.
Premise 2. The best evidence for the Book of Mormon is eyewitness testimony.
Conclusion. Therefore, the best evidence for the Book of Mormon is notoriously unreliable.
Where does it say (besides the redit post) that the pumping goes on forever? I would expect the pumping can be greatly reduced if not altogether eliminated, once the waterproofing is done on the foundations. That's pretty normal for projects with water table issues.
Due to the shallow groundwater and final subsurface elevation of the temple, long-term dewatering has been evaluated. The long-term dewatering is in addition to a membrane installation on the temple foundation. Dewatering is anticipated to be by gravity and discharged to the adjacent creek to the southwest of the site. The anticipated invert elevation to allow for gravity flow is at approximately 5696.5 feet amsl. With the estimated high groundwater elevation of 5710.5 feet amsl, dewatering will be required for approximately 14 feet.
Similar to the temporary dewatering calculations, the transmissivity of 495 ft 2 /day and a storativity of 0.05 were used in the estimation of dewatering. For the 14 feet near the toe of the basement footing, the initial discharge from the drain system is estimated between 150 to 250 gpm. After 1month of dewatering the rate will have declined to approximately 50 to 120 gpm. After approximately 1-year of constant dewatering, or long-term operation, the rate is anticipated to be between 50 to 80 gpm.
Beyond the long term dewatering for the temple footprint, an additional dewatering option for the baptismal font area was evaluated. In order to perform maintenance of the font area, a dewatering system below the foundation is required. The required elevation for dewatering is approximately 5679.25 feet amsl, or approximately two feet below the font foundation. This is also the anticipated invert elevation of the dewatering system. With the estimated high groundwater elevation of 5710.5 feet amsl, dewatering will be required for approximately 31.25 feet if the full dewatering system was non-operational.
With the long-term dewatering system operating around the footprint of the temple at an elevation of 5696.5 feet amsl, the dewatering will be required for approximately 17.25 feet to be two feet below the baptismal font. This will also require the use of a manhole sump and pump installed to a depth below the invert of the dewatering piping. It is anticipated that the water discharged is to the adjacent creek to the southwest of the site. Similar to the temporary dewatering calculations, the transmissivity of 495 ft 2 /day and a storativity of 0.05 were used in the estimation of dewatering. For the 17.25 feet below the temple dewatering system, the initial discharge from the drain system is estimated between 200 to 300 gpm. After 1week of dewatering the rate will have declined to approximately 150 to 200 gpm. After 1-month of dewatering the rate will have declined to approximately 75 to 150 gpm.
Analysis of the total pump rate to dewater the temple site to a depth of 37 feet from finished grade was conducted. The initial flow rate at startup is estimated at 500 to 700 gpm. The time frame to fully dewater the site to 37 feet is estimated at 4 to 8 weeks. After the site has been dewatered the estimated pumping rate to sustain dewatering is estimated at 150 to 250 gpm. The estimated well spacing required on the perimeter of the dewatered area is 25 to 55 feet as provided by Okland. Additional dewatering points may be required on the east side of the site due to the flow direction observed during the pump testing of the three test wells. This is also evident from the highest measured flow rate in TW-2 during pump testing.
That’s really bad planning. At least they aren’t building it in an area susceptible to flooding…
Premise 1. Eyewitness testimony is notoriously unreliable.
Premise 2. The best evidence for the Book of Mormon is eyewitness testimony.
Conclusion. Therefore, the best evidence for the Book of Mormon is notoriously unreliable.
In hindsight, I’m sure DCP would have been more than willing to do a site survey with his pair of oak twigs. He has a proven track record of being able to find water underground and could have saved the brethren from this headache.
"I'm on paid sabbatical from BYU in exchange for my promise to use this time to finish two books."
There will be lots of property issues for the properties and residences around the site if this poorly planned temple construction. Perhaps the Church could offer to underwrite any and all subsidence and water table related damage to the properties within the area affected?
Premise 1. Eyewitness testimony is notoriously unreliable.
Premise 2. The best evidence for the Book of Mormon is eyewitness testimony.
Conclusion. Therefore, the best evidence for the Book of Mormon is notoriously unreliable.
What a disaster! I am surprised they didn't do a geological survey to see whether this was a good site to build on. They should discontinue the project and find a new site. Continuing here will just be a constant drain (pun intended) on resources.
"He disturbs the laws of his country, he forces himself upon women, and he puts men to death without trial.” ~Otanes on the monarch, Herodotus Histories 3.80.
