City delays well dig for public input

A citizen request prompted Brandon city leaders Sept. 18 to reject bids for construction of well No. 8 and to schedule an Oct. 10 public meeting to discuss the city’s water system with residents. That meeting will be held in the community room of the Brandon Golf Course, beginning at 6 p.m.

Tim Wakefield returned to the council chambers last week to request the council consider a three-month hold on all water and infrastructure improvements.

Alderman Jon McInerny said he was open to pushing the pause button on awarding the bid for well 8.

“The reason I say that is there have been a lot of good questions raised and a lot of research that has been done. I want to make sure that the people we’re voting for are comfortable with all of those answers before we do so,” McInerny said. 

Wakefield first brought his concerns about the city’s water quality, treatment ability and capacity to the council on Sept. 5, and he came armed with further concerns, facts and figures again last week.

“As we know, we currently use roughly 2 million gallons of water per day. Well 6 is not capable of that so we turn on well 3, a well that’s unfiltered and untreated,” he said.

Wakefield said he had a sample of water from the tap of his home tested at Hot Springs Spas. He said the results of the total dissolved solids were 715 milligrams per liter; the EPA recommends under 500. 

“That’s a concern as a resident here in town. We want good, clean water and unfortunately, we’re above that recommendation by the EPA. Is that directly due to well 3? I can’t tell you, but I can tell you we’re above the recommendation.”

Wakefield told the council it would be “risky” to drill well 8, which, he said, is within 10 miles of well 6, in which radium has been detected.

“There’s an opportunity that well will be contaminated due to its proximity to well 6. Right now, our eggs are in one basket, and that’s well 6,” Wakefield said. “We do not have a backup if something were to happen when we were to drill well 8. The question I have then becomes, is our water treatment plant that we just paid to upgrade with an HMO system capable to handle 2 million gallons of water a day and any radium level that we may foresee?”

Alderman Don Wells said wells 6 and 8 would not be used simultaneously.

“I’m not saying I’m all for well 8 yet. I want to be clear on something. I don’t have an answer, and that’s what I think this meeting is for in October. It gives us time to prepare for that. I definitely think we need to look at other alternatives,” Wells said.

Jon Brown, of Stockwell Engineering, said a new well would eliminate scour and rust from a 20-year-old casing pipe that Rollie Hoeke, director of public works, has had maintenance issues with. Well 6, he added, would serve as a back-up well if there were issues with well 8.

Although high in radium, well 7 also provides the city with options. A pipeline already connects that well to the water treatment plant at Aspen Park, and the new HMO process, scheduled to be completed Oct. 17, will rectify that. Radium, Wells added, occurs most commonly in bedrock aquifers.

“Your water is safe. Every well that we dig, every facility we build with respect to your drinking water, it is tested. Right now, I can assure you that all of our water meets the standards,” Wells said. “There’s radium in it, but we have to treat it, just like Manganese, copper, iron, sulfates or sulfites, any of the above.”

Brown said the chemical injection allows well 7 to be used for treatment. The HMO system, he said, is a variable speed injection process that will increase the HMO injection. “Really what it amounts to is our pumps that we’re putting on there are variable so we can inject the amount of HMO that we need based on the radium levels, and actually those radium levels can fluctuate and they’re going to fluctuate over time. This system will be adaptable to increase that injection. It will service up to the capacity of the treatment plant, 2.2 million gallons per day.”

In response to Wakefield’s suggestion that the city purchase water from Lewis & Clark members, Wells said he had confirmed earlier that day that treated water source is not Brandon’s answer. He learned from L&C officials that Brandon needs its own treatment facility. 

“So, let’s say we buy some members’ water for the next five or next 10 years without having built a facility and then we’re done. Then what? Then our population has grown 30 percent more, whatever it might be relative to what it is now, and we’re stuck back in the same barrel. If we don’t have enough water to supply residents now how would we have it then not having built or prepared for the future? Same thing goes with MCWC (Minnehaha Community Water Corp). I think that is definitely a possibility. I completely agree that it could be a temporary solution, but it is not a long-term solution, in my opinion,” Wells said.

MCWC buys water from Lewis & Clark. They pay $1.23 right now. You know what our cost for treating water is right now is? Tt’s 87 cents and that’s per 1,000 gallons. If they’re paying $1.23, I’m going to guess, this is an assumption, we would be paying in that $1.40, 1.50 range, twice what we’re paying now. So yes, it would be an increased cost, but could we do that forever, should we plan on it for the long-term? Absolutely not. I do not believe that.”

Wakefield pointed out that the city and MCWC have different treatment processes. “They use chlorine and ammonia. We only use chlorine, so if you were to hook up to that, there is a few hiccups, if you will. I want to make sure you’re aware of that, and yes, it’s an option, but there are tricks, if you will, to play,” he said.

Wells described those “hiccups.”

“It’s going to cause release from our pipes into our water system. So, there are issues and costs associated with it. We have to build the infrastructure and pay for the infrastructure if we do connect to them, and then we have to buy the water from them, which is going to be roughly twice the price of what we’re paying now.” 

“Do we have a water problem? Absolutely. I was one that voted for the water ban to be in place, but I was also one that voted for it to be off early. I agree, we have a water problem and when I say problem, we need more wells, we need more storage and we need a larger treatment facility, and in that process, it sounds like we’re going to need at least a new water tower, maybe two. That’s down the road and I’ve questioned that process from the beginning,” Wells said. “I want to look at all options.”

Wells also clarified that Brandon did not lose “a major opportunity to Luverne with tru Shrimp Company strictly due to a lack of connection to Lewis & Clark,” which Wakefield stated at the city council’s Sept. 5 meeting.

The Alderman said he spoke with the company’s CEO and officers, and learned they chose the Minnesota community for financial perks that included $3 million a year for five years, free land and lower costs for roads and construction purposes. “They were given a total of $20 million in incentives to locate in Luverne rather than Brandon,” Wells said. “Now, if we want to start giving companies money, then maybe we would’ve had a shot at them. But it was not due to Lewis & Clark.”

Wells learned the company needs about 14 million gallons to fill their shrimp pools and will use approximately 60,000 gallons a day to maintain them. 

“That is something that Brandon could have adequately done. There have been several articles written that Luverne could not have accepted that company without Lewis & Clark water project. That might be true. They did not have enough water prior to that project. That does not mean that they did not come here because we’re not on Lewis & Clark. That is absolutely wrong and that is straight from the horse’s mouth,” he said.

Wells also believes that Brandon needs to be self-sufficient. He explained that in 2012, Brandon’s sewer rates were 90 cents per 1,000 gallons and at $4.78 per 1,000 gallons today.

“Because we don’t have a sewer treatment plant, we rely on Sioux Falls and our rates went up almost overnight. In 2019, they’re expected to be $5.37. That’s atrocious. We have no other choice; we don’t have the option to treat it. We need our own treatment plant. I firmly believe that,” Wells said.

Wakefield agreed that Lewis & Clark is not a long-term solution. Residents will have the opportunity to continue the city water discussion at the Oct. 10 public forum. The council’s next regularly scheduled meeting is 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 2.