An abandoned, unplugged well, located south of Imperial, TX in Pecos County, is sucking both the land around it and taxpayer dollars. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) paid $315,000 to plug the well in 2009, and spent at least $1 million, to date, fixing the nearby Farm-to-Market Road 1053. If the state has to reroute the road, the cost could increase to $15 million.

Sometime during the early 1950s, someone bore a 2,800-foot well, possibly searching for oil. However, “they hit that damn water, and they just left,” Ty Edwards with the Middle Pecos Groundwater Conservation District told the Texas Tribune. The well was ultimately tapped for farm irrigation, but when the farms stopped producing, the farmers walked away.

The well and surrounding ground have sank 40 feet since being plugged.

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