By Jason Arndt
Staff Writer
With the Burlington Common Council authorizing a Taxable Waterworks System Revenue Bond at its June 20 meeting, a radium-contaminated well will receive the treatment it needs after being taken out of service for the past year and a half.
The revenue bond of just under $900,000 relates to Well 11 at the intersection of Liberty Drive and South Pine Street, where the Department of Natural Resources shut down the well on Dec. 31, 2015.
Including contracts with engineers, the total cost of the project is a shade above $1 million.
City Administrator Carina Walters told Common Council members the approval is the final hurdle to treat the well.
“This is really the last step with respect to getting the Well 11 radium project completed,” she said. “We have been talking about this project for several years.”
The discussion started in 2013, when the DNR detected high levels of radium contamination at Well 11, which sparked the state agency to issue a directive to install a treatment system.
For the next two years, staff conducted routine checks on the well, but continued to receive unfavorable results.
Consequently, the DNR shut down the well, and the City of Burlington worked to fix the problem.
Earlier this year, city officials told the DNR they planned to secure a low interest loan through the Safe Drinking Water Loan Program.
In February, the Board of Public Works awarded the project to Butters Fetting Co., Inc. of Milwaukee for $847,500 among four bidders.
The cost of the project will be shared 80/20 with the federal government. Burlington’s share will come to about $200,000, which will be financed with a Safe Drinking Water Loan through the DNR, according to Walters. The loan will be paid back over 20 years at an interest rate of 1.87 percent.
Well No. 11 is one of five municipal water wells in Burlington. Two others already have systems to remove radium, a naturally occurring element that has been linked to cancer.
Walters said Well No. 11 is needed to help meet the city’s future water demand.
Baxter and Woodman Consulting Engineers will oversee the project.
With District 3 Aldermen Tom Vos and Jon Schultz absent, the Common Council approved it on a 6-0 decision.
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