United Group Insurance

Iowa town hits snag in new water well

News

February 24th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

MANSON, Iowa (AP) ā€” The northwest Iowa town of Manson has hit a snag in digging a new water well in a crater left behind by huge meteorite that slammed into Earth 74 million years ago. Mayor Dave George told The Messenger in Fort Dodge that there’s a setback in an attempt to crack through the solid granite that’s blocking the new well due to collapsing shale. The shale will have to be cleaned out before the remaining 30 feet of granite can be cracked. George says when the well was dug last year, crews went through solid granite that had no cracks to allow the water through. The city hired a company to break the rock using a gas gun, but the shale moved during the process.