Tiny town of Lynndyl without water as crews address well problems

LYNNDYL, Utah — Officials said Thursday that mechanical failures involving the town’s pumps were responsible for water being shut off in the small frontier town.

Resident Gary Dutson said he received a notice Thursday afternoon alerting him to the problem.

“The water’s been off for, oh, about four or five hours now, but just about a half hour or an hour ago we got a notice,” Dutson said around 8 p.m. Thursday.

The yellow notice was posted to other doors in the neighborhood.

“Neither of Lynndyl’s well pumps are not functioning,” the notice read. “A new pump will be installed Monday at the latest.”

According to Millard County Commissioner Dean Draper, officials learned about the issue Wednesday.

Dutson said neighbors weren’t aware of the problem until the water stopped working and the notice came out Thursday. He said residents had been fine to even water their lawns up to that point.

Lynndyl Mayor Briar Proctor agreed to an interview with a KSL TV crew that traveled to the town Thursday, but the crew was instead greeted with a paper statement and other officials saying they were advised by a lawyer not to talk.

“We’ve been having mechanical failure on our town pumps,” the statement read. “We have bottled water at the Town Hall for all residence and we will continue to have that supplied daily until the problem is resolved. We have Leamington’s water trucks and fire trucks here for all livestock water needs. We have been working with multiple companies and other resources to get this fixed as well as neighboring cities and towns. All public media questions may be directed to the Millard County Commissioners.”

Crews were still busy after 10 p.m. Thursday in what workers described as an attempt to fill one of the wells with water to repressurize the town’s water system.

It was unclear immediately whether that effort had the desired effect.

Dutson said he was personally prepared for the water going out but he didn’t think all residents were.

“I hope that we can get it arranged so that it’s more stable,” Dutson said. “It’s not too good.”