By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
Plans to bring a malfunctioning well into compliance and working order are in motion, following a recent inspection.
Jeff Dolezal, the village’s public works director, recently came before the Village Board and sought permission to look into remedying problems discovered at the well, which is located on the Village Hall grounds at 123 N. River St.
The well was being examined as part of a routine 10-year inspection process, Dolezal said, and a number of problems were discovered on the 27-year-old piece of infrastructure.
Issues include a broken piece of 40-foot pipe. Also, a pump within the well was found to be worn down and needs to be replaced, Dolezal said, noting that it has already been rebuilt on two occasions.
“It’s not something we wanted to see,” Dolezal said of the findings during the inspection. “But it’s also not the end of the world.”
Bringing the well back into tip-top shape will carry an estimated price tag of about $22,000 to $23,000, according to Dolezal’s calculations.
The Village Board budgeted $10,750 toward well remediation, meaning that funds will have to be sought elsewhere within the overall budget to cover additional costs.
The well in question was taken off-line during the inspection, since water usage in the village is historically low during the winter months. But the goal is to have it functioning again when warm weather returns and people tend to such tasks as yard maintenance.
Fixing the number of problems within this well could be challenging, Dolezal said, because it is narrow in diameter and runs deep.
“Right now, we’re looking at a number of different options,” he said.
Last June, a failed pump at the village’s deep well in Cornerstone Crossing led to outside watering restrictions at the height of one of the worst droughts in recent years, when the village lost more than 80 percent of its daily water capacity due to that pump’s failure.
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