APPLE VALLEY, Utah (KUTV) — Residents in the Cedar Point subdivision of Apple Valley are able to turn on their taps with confidence for the first time in years.

A new $3.4 million pipeline connecting the town’s east side aquifer to the western subdivision, which has long been plagued by murky, contaminated water, is now complete. The construction was wrapped up in under a year and came in under budget.

The small Washington County town of Apple Valley previously relied on two separate water systems: the Apple Valley proper system, which supplies the older parts of town, and the Cedar Point system, which serves a newer subdivision on the west side of town.

“The groundwater quality in Cedar Point was poor from the beginning,” said Zach Renstrom, general manager of the Washington County Water Conservancy District. “The aquifer on that side of town was very poor quality and very limited. It has always been a problem that needed to be addressed.”

In 2024, the Cedar Point system tested positive for radium and other harmful contaminants. Town officials also discovered that aging storage tanks were coated with iron algae and sediment. At times, residents were left without running water altogether. Local leaders declared an emergency and worked quickly to find a long-term solution.

Mayor Mike Farrar, who took office less than two years ago, made the issue his top priority. In a collaboration with the Utah Division of Drinking Water, the Washington County Water Conservancy District, and the governor’s office, Farrar was able to help secure funding, much of it from federal sources, to fast-track the project.

“We flushed the system, cleaned the tanks, and connected Cedar Point to our clean, reliable aquifer,” Farrar said. “The day we turned it on, residents noticed the difference instantly. The water’s no longer brown or stinky. It’s life-changing for this town.”

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To save money and avoid delays, the town avoided UDOT managed roads and instead routed five and a half miles of pipe through a combination of town, private and STILA-owned land. The mayor said this saved nearly $2 million because of the difference in building requirements.

Officials said the east-side aquifer has enough capacity to support planned growth, including an already-approved development of over 80 cabins and around 50 five to 10-acre ranch lots.

Any future developments that are not yet approved will be required to secure clean water access themselves and cover any costs associated with the treatment or movement of that water.

The town has completed its own test via a water sampling station in Cedar Point, which showed the water was within state guidelines. The next step is to do an official state water test in order to lift the drinking advisory.

Michael Grange with the Utah Division of Drinking Water said the project’s speed and success serve as an example of how inter-agency cooperation can benefit a community.

“It’s great to see a project begin,” said Grange. “But it’s even better to see it done and in working condition.”

Mayor Farrar said he remained a “squeaky wheel” when the project hit roadblocks.

“These projects come with a lot of red tape, and I was told it would take three to five years to complete, but we got it done in about a year,” said Farrar.

He added that everyone knew how urgent the situation was.

“Clean drinking water is a right and we couldn’t allow this to happen. We all got together and said, ‘let’s fix this as quickly as possible,’ and that’s what we did,” he said.

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