Davis County Sheriff's Office: Gravel Pit Taking On Water

The Davis County Sheriff's Office received a call from employees at Staker/Parson's Gravel Pit on Monday, June 13, 2011, that they had identified water coming through the wall of their pit. They said they regularly get water in the pit from multiple sources, but never anything like this. Their engineers advised that if it was the Weber River that had breached the wall, and if the land breached fully, the river could fill the gravel pit within approximately 18 hours.

It was the determination of the Davis County Emergency Management Coordinator that if that wall were to breach, it could become a public emergency, because that would be an uncontrolled situation. All homes west of the pit would be at risk of being flooded, and evacuations would be necessary. Davis County Sheriff's Office released a press release to notify the public of a potential risk to public safety:
http://on.fb.me/m8cTNG

Lake being formed at the bottom of the gravel pit on Monday

Landslides visible from wet and weakened soil, Monday. On the right is the side of the river. Notice there are small trickles of water running in on the ground, but ground is mostly dry.

This picture was taken on Tuesday. There is a visible difference in the amount of water on the ground. Water and ground erosion has picked up greatly and workers noticed.

Another shot from Tuesday with increased water coming in.

Experts with the State of Utah came down on Tuesday to evaluate the stability of the situation, and see if they could identify the source of the water.

Engineers and Specialists in a briefing about the situation and the stability.

Due to the increase in water flow, the continued landslides and erosion, experts were in agreement that action needed to be taken immediately to correct any potential breach. Staker/Parson got to work, doing what they do best, and worked around the clock to remedy the problem.

The amount of work Staker/Parson's crews had completed to stabalize the hillside by Thursday morning, June 16th, was visible and impressive. Water is still coming through, but it is clear and not bring hillside out with it. Staker/Parson's crews created a filtration system, which allows the water to flow through the hillside without bringing soil with it. The project was basically completed by Thursday morning.

http://bit.ly/Fox13News

http://bit.ly/StandardExaminerVideo