Flood spotlights danger to water system
Heather Thorstensen
Date Modified: 12/07/2009 4:05 PM
E-mail article | Print version
Agri News staff writer
RUSHFORD, Minn. -- A silver lining of the August 2007 flood in southeastern Minnesota is that it spotlighted a danger to the water system: Sandpoint wells.
These consist of a well screen on the end of a pipe that is pounded or driven into sandy soil where the water table is near the surface. Usually, they are less than 30 feet deep.
During the flood of 2007, sewage water backed up in Rushford homes, then drained below ground through the privately owned sandpoint wells, contaminating the city's water supply with bacteria. Contamination also occurred through other deep wells in the community.
"Houses that were not flooded by the flood were flooded by raw sewage," said Jeff Copley, Rushford's Public Works director.
Through cleanup efforts, Rushford officials discovered at least 300 sandpoint wells in the city of 1,700 people. Before, they thought only 40 to 80 existed. Some homeowners used their wells as their primary water supply, some used them just to water gardens and some didn't use them at all.
"A lot of homes where the sandpoint wells are, the plumbing interconnected the sandpoint wells with the city system," said Donna Rasmussen, manager of the Fillmore Soil and Water Conservation District.
In December, the city of Rushford will receive an award for efforts to protect its water supply by sealing wells and for alerting other towns to the contamination risk. The Community Conservationist Award comes from the Minnesota Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. The Fillmore SWCD nominated the city.
The city is sealing wells with state and federal support. Their only cost is the time employees spend with their contractors, Mineral Service Plus and Thein Well Rochester, Inc. They are approximately 90 percent finished.
The Fillmore SWCD has committed a little more than $100,000 to seal the sandpoint wells. This money came from flood relief funds from the state Legislature. The SWCD provided the cost-share dollars at 100 percent, so homeowners didn't have to pay to seal their wells during a time when they were dealing with the aftermath of the flood.
"The city was at a loss at how to deal with this," said Rasmussen. "Fortunately, they were willing to set up the cost-share...Instead of us having individual contracts with each homeowner, they took on the responsibility to sign the contract and be responsible for those funds."
The Federal Emergency Management Agency gave approximately $60,000 to seal big wells and the Public Facilities Authority paid $21,500 to have an old, city well sealed.
Twelve to 15 sandpoint well owners have refused to hook up their homes to city water. They are able to keep their well but they can't cross-connect to the city water, can't refurbish it when maintenance is needed and they must be in compliance with the state's well code. No new sandpoint wells can be made and the cost-share contract requires inspections to ensure wells remain sealed.
Rushford officials want to alert other cities of the potential risk these wells put on public water supplies.
"We know that every town probably has a lot of these old, abandoned wells because city water systems didn't come in until many years after the city was settled," said Rasmussen.
They've hosted well-sealing demonstrations and have taken their story on the road to regional and state meetings.
"If your town is along a creek, stream or river basin and you think you don't have (sandpoint wells), you're wrong," Copley said.
According to Rasmussen, most counties in southeast Minnesota have cost-share programs through their SWCD to seal wells.
"Not every single well that's out there is going to be a contamination risk, but you don't know that for sure and the best way to be sure is to seal them," she said.
The Community Conservationist Award will be presented during the annual MASWCD convention, to be held Dec. 6-8 in Duluth.