Saline City Council Approves Emergency Well and Pump Repair

City of Saline officials hope an $85,000 repair to the city's largest well and a new pump will be enough to get water production capacity back to normal.

Well 4 is the city's most productive well and recently began emitting a large amount of sand while pumping. Staff televised the well and fon an 18-20 foot crack in its casing. To repair the well, a smaller diameter casing will be inserted and a new pump will be installed. Peerless Midwest was awarded the project. The pump costs $37,195 and the relining project was quoted at $47,500.

Water superintendent Bill Briggs said the city is just waiting for the state to grant a permit for the project.

Councillor Janet Dillon asked whether or not this project would work.

Briggs estimated there was an 85 percent chance the project would work.

Dillon asked if the city should consider water use restrictions until the well is back online.

"It's hard to say. We're maintaining right now. If one of our other wells goes down, we're going to be in a real bind," Briggs said. "But we're not having any issues producing water at this point."

Once the state gives the city the go-ahead, the project is expected to take two or three weeks.

If the project does work, the city will have to begin looking for an entirely new well - something City Manager Colleen O'Toole and Briggs have already started thinking about.

"We're definitely gonna look into drilling another well in the very near future," Briggs said, answering a question from Councillor Dean Girbach.

O'Toole said it would likely take 18 months to bring a new well online.

"The first step will actually be siting a location for it," O'Toole said.

She said it was rare to be able to drill next to an existing well.

Council voted 7-0 to approve the $85,000 expenditure.

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