By Dave Fidlin
CORRESPONDENT
After declining precipitously in the past month, Village of Waterford officials are ramping up efforts to remediate a malfunctioning well that is operating below capacity.
The Village Board on Oct. 10 gave Jeff Dolezal, public works director, the green light to spend up to $25,000 to tend to temporary fixes to well No. 5 — the same well that malfunctioned four years ago and sparked a communitywide call to ban outdoor sprinkling and other water conservation efforts.
Dolezal has discussed the well’s status with the board on multiple occasions this past month. Its under-performance was not considered urgent a month ago, but a continued decline in its pumping capacity has been a cause of growing concern for Dolezal and other village staffers.
“We really can’t put this off any longer,” Dolezal said this week of a temporary fix to the structure. “My main goal is to get the pump back up and running.”
When he began discussing well No. 5’s performance at a meeting Sept. 12, Dolezal said it was pumping about 450 gallons per minute; by contrast, well No. 4 produces 500 gallons per minute. The amount of water pumped out of well No. 5 has since declined.
Dolezal said the situation surrounding well No. 5 grew in urgency since the beginning of the month. He said he sought bids and said he was able to connect with “three strong firms” who had eligibility to tackle the work.
“But what it ultimately came down to is availability,” he said, noting the village’s compressed timeline for tending to the work.
Oconomowoc-based Water Well Solutions Services Group is being tapped to handle the project.
Long-term solutions to well No. 5 could hover between $45,000 and $80,000, Dolezal said, though he was quick to point out there are a number of unknowns, including the true depth of the problems plaguing the well.
Dolezal described the short-term fixes as “insurance” as long-term solutions are sought and a thorough investigation takes place.
The cause of the well’s under-performance is not known. When he first discussed the issue a month ago, Dolezal said a preliminary investigation into the well’s infrastructure did not turn up any red flags. The problem, he said, could lie beneath the aquifer.
Speaking to the search for a long-range remedy to the ailing well this week, Dolezal said, “This is intensive work. This is not something that can be done in a few hours. It’s going to be multiple days.”
In other business this week, the Waterford Village Board heard a report from Village President Tom Roanhouse on tentative discussions he has had with corporate representatives of Festival Foods, an Onalaska-based grocer that has maintained a longtime presence in the northern half of the state and has more recently begun making inroads in Southeastern Wisconsin.
Roanhouse emphasized talks are preliminary at this point, but the company is looking to administer a household survey at its expense to determine if Waterford is a good fit for its portfolio.
“Out of the clear, blue sky, Festival Foods came looking for us,” Roanhouse said. “Sometimes this proves the power of prayer.”
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