City Approves Next Steps in Water Sourcing Project

By Gordon Hopkins A groundwater model report was presented to the Fairbury City Council on Tuesday, October 4, 2022. After reviewing the report, the council voted unanimously to take the next step, which is to authorize Miller and Associates Engineering to provide updated cost estimates and investigate potential funding options. The purpose of the Water Sourcing Project is to locate a new, lower-nitrate water source for both the Little Blue NRD (Natural Resources District) and the City of Fairbury. The report was created by LRE (Leonard Rice Engineering) Water, an engineering consultant based in Denver, Colorado. According to that report, pumping water from a proposed wellfield approximately four miles south of Daykin is expected to have only a minor impact on nearby irrigation wells.Mary Renn, Project Manager, emphasized that the vote does not authorize any action beyond determining funding and costs, “This motion to move the project forward only requires Miller and Associates to present an updated estimate of costs of the project as well as funding opportunities and any potential grant dollars that could be available to the city of Fairbury. There is no other commitment.”The project remains controversial among area landowners, who worry pumping from the proposed wellfield will substantially impact local irrigation wells. A group of more than 60 landowners and residents calling themselves the Jefferson County Water Rights Coalition has expressed a number of concerns about the project. In addition to the impact on nearby wells, they also fear nitrate levels for the new water source will not be as low as anticipated. In a statement, the group wrote, “Nitrate levels in the area are already rising, with no guarantee that they will remain at a safe level. The residents and farmers have kept records of their own through the decades, documenting rising nitrate levels in the area immediately surrounding the well field. The LBNRD has historically documented rising nitrate levels throughout the district, including irrigation wells within a half-mile of the test wells with nitrate levels exceeding 8ppm in 2012. Testing submitted this summer to state labs by local landowners found 6 wells over 9 ppm within a mile of the project site.” The report was also presented to the Little Blue NRD board on Tuesday, October 11. Like Fairbury, they agreed to move forward.

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