The city made national headlines two summers ago when it refused to approve any new buildings that required a water hookup.
The Oakley City Council rescinded the move Nov. 8, since a new well is quadrupling its water supply.
“We just dated [the new well water], and it came back at close to 5,000 years old," Evans said.
Oakley planning commissioner Doug Evans, who’s been closely involved with the well construction process, says Oakley leadership is confident it will come online around June 2024.
“After we perform close to 100 water tests, they're all good. In fact, it's one of the best sources—it's better than our other sources in the city,” he said. “So now all we have to do is tie it into the water system, which is pretty straightforward. So a lot of the risk is gone.”
Evans also said the scientists were able to date the age of the water, confirming it hasn’t been on the Earth’s surface for 5,000 years.
Once a pump is installed and the well is at max capacity, it could produce 3 million gallons of water every day, which is more than six Olympic-sized swimming pools.

A deluge of water doesn’t automatically mean a deluge of development though.
According to Mayor Zane Woolstenhulme, Oakley has just two standalone buildings waiting for a water hookup right now.
There’s also the future 15-home River Haven Subdivision going in between Millrace Road and state Route 32, but Evans said they’ll spend most of 2024 building road and utilities improvements.
“They won't have a building permit until the infrastructure is in,” he explained.
River Haven doesn’t require a rezone, so as long as it complies with code, the owner has the right to build it already.
The new water will also enable the remodeling of Oakley’s city center, a years-long process underway at the planning commission level. The architects and planners hired by local businessman Steve Smith meet with the Oakley City Planning Commission again Nov. 9.