Next Steps For Water Sourcing Project Revealed

By Gordon HopkinsThe City of Fairbury is taking the next steps needed to provide the city water with a lower nitrate content. At a meeting on November 16, the Fairbury City Council voted to approve the drilling of five new wellheads, which will then be tested for nitrates.Fairbury currently has two water sources, Crystal Springs and the East Wells. Both water sources have consistently tested in the higher range for nitrates, meaning greater than seven ppm (parts per million) but less than 10 ppm, over the past several years. While the nitrates are in the higher range, they are still in compliance with the NDEQ (Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy).If water nitrate levels reach 10 ppm, the city may be forced to build a water treatment plant.The city has entered into an interlocal agreement with Little Blue NRD (Natural Resources District) to cost-share in a project to identify a new water source with nitrates ranging in the 0-3ppm, 28.57 percent for Little Blue NRD and 71.43 percent for the City of Fairbury, based upon consumption.Members of the city council have expressed concerns about the rising costs of the project.An initial targeted area was identified approximately nine miles north of Fairbury. The estimated cost of the project at that time, drilling wells in that location, was approximately $4.2 million. Those landowners are unwilling to sell any acreage in order to move the project forward.A second targeted area was identified and the landowner has expressed interest in providing enough land to meet the criteria of establishing five wells. This location will require approximately three additional miles of pipe, which increases the estimated cost to $6,761,160 in the current cost environment, a $2.4 million increase. According to a memo from city administrator Robert Messbarger presented at the meeting, an anticipated increase in the cost of pipe could further increase the estimated cost of the project as high as $7,466,760.Reducing CostsThe City has identified some opportunities to reduce costs. While some on the Council had asked if the City could drill just one test well, Messbarger noted in his memo, “Engineering has confirmed it is a necessary to drill and test each well required for the project. This eliminates the possibility of drilling one test well to minimize the total estimated cost.”The original estimate for drilling and testing five wellheads was $146,700. However, the memo also suggests there are opportunities to reduce the total cost by as much as 15 percent, to $123,500.The initial estimate allots for a well depth of 225 feet. Based on wells surrounding the property, engineering believes the average depth could be closer to 200 feet, reducing the estimated cost by $3,750. There is also potential for addition cost reduction if the wells are less than 200 feet, as drilling is paid by actual footage drilled.Project Manager Mary Renn told the Council, “If the geology didn’t test well for these wells, the cost for that would run about $25,000 for the entity, so there would be a $16,572 cost to the city of Fairbury. If the geology didn’t test well, we could at that point decide to stop the project. If the geology did test well, the next step would be to test the water. So the wells would have to be dug to the total depth.”Another possible cost savings is eliminating two inch case wells, which would reduced the initial estimated cost by $13,200.Five Versus Four WellheadsAnother proposed method to reduce costs was to drill four wellheads instead of five. That would would still provide the project with the required three wells and provide one backup well in the event there was a problem with one.Councilperson Brian Schmidt said, “To me it would makes sense to go ahead with the five test wells. So we were looking at building five wells, you know, when this project is completed. Why wouldn’t we test all five sites?”Fairbury Mayor Spencer Brown recommended moving ahead with the project and drilling all five wells, “Those costs are only going to get more expensive as time goes on. We had this discussion last time. This is kind of the next step. And I think this is just what we need. We test all five.”The Council opted to drill all five wellheads.

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