Meeting centers on wells and water quality

Randolph area residents got more information on a proposed rural water system here Wednesday.
The Wau-Col Rural Water System committee met in Randolph Wednesday to discuss any updates.
JEO has begun working on the preliminary engineering report. In August, they began summarizing the data collected from a survey questionnaire taken from rural users. 
Another company, Bartlett and West, has begun the process of reviewing the data and setting up the hydraulic modeling to simulate the proposed system. The modeling package will be used throughout the project to simulate and verify proposed solutions for the water system.
Ron Benson, JEO, estimates the study will be completed in  December.
 After this stage is complete, JEO and the committee will look at the model, and decide exactly how the project will be laid out.
“Design will take one year, and construction of the project should be completed in 2008.” Benson said.
Art Kuhl from RC&D said he has one more day of phone calls and he will be finished with contacting rural users. 
So far only one-third of the people contacted — 24-of-75 — have expressed expressed interest in the project. 
Lewis and Clark Natural Resources District Manager Tom Moser, Hartington, reported payments from Wausa, Magnet, McLean, Coleridge, Osmond, Laurel, Randolph and Lower Elkhorn NRD were received. The total amount of money gathered is $22,342. 
The town hall meeting recapped for the audience of about 20 people the Wau-Col rural water system from its beginning in 2005 until today.
Several towns including McLean, Magnet, and Laurel have problems with older wells and quantity of water output. 
Belden has an administrative order from the state to find a new water source for the community because of high nitrates. Randolph has one well which is 40 years old and works fine, but should something happen to it, they would have no back-up for water. 
This water system could be used as a backup in case of an emergency.
“There might be rural customers who need good water as well as towns,” Art Kuhl said, which is why the RC&D has been contacting all rural farms around the participating towns. 
“This is a new opportunity for improved water supplies,” he said. Wausa and Coleridge both have good water and plenty of it, so they were approached to be the sources for the water supply.
People living in the rural areas around the eight communities involved in the project were surveyed for interest in hooking up to the water project. Interested rural users are asked to pay $80 as a goodwill commitment to the project. The money will be taken off the cost of hooking up to the system.
“It takes one person per mile to make it worth while financially to lay the pipeline,” Tom Moser, Lewis and Clark NRD said. So for some areas along the project where rural users will not be included in the plan, there money will be returned to them.
Some towns have looked into drilling a new well. The cost for Crofton’s new well a few years ago was around $400,000, and “I don’t want to guess how much that would cost today.” Moser said.
A rural water system providing clean water linking towns to rural farms would be the most cost effective way to deal with these problems. The Wau-Col Rural Water System would do that, giving people safe drinking water.
“The cities still control the water system,” Jan Jorgensen of RC&D said. 
Wausa, Laurel and Coleridge would be responsible for the upkeep and treatment of the water system, since they would provide the water. The water system would have to maintain the health standards set by the EPA and state regulatory boards.
Should a town’s drinking water be contaminated by nitrates, the town providing the water would treat the problem.
“One well for water source is more financially beneficial and makes it easier to treat for contaminants than several wells in different communities,” she said.
The meeting concluded with a request for the audience to fill the rural users survey for those who have not done it. This helps JEO complete the data model for the pipelines.
The next meeting of the Wau-Col Rural Water System will be on Oct. 17 at 7 p.m. in Belden.