Public demands second opinion on Brandon water

Jamie Hult

Staff writer 

 

Questions were asked, ideas surfaced, tempers flared and accusations were made, but at the end of two-hour meeting, everyone at the Oct. 10 public water meeting agreed it was time to take a closer look at what’s coming out of Brandon’s taps and where it comes from.

Tim Wakefield didn’t anticipate buying a water softener when he built his home in Brandon four years ago.  

“It wasn’t even talked about. The builder didn’t ask me if I wanted a water softener, they didn’t care if I wanted a water softener – I got a water softener,” he said. “Because in Brandon, it’s required.”

Wakefield led the charge for last week’s open forum with the city about Brandon’s water supply, sources and needs, which first came under scrutiny in July when the water tower level fell below 110,000 gallons, the amount needed to fight a major structure fire. 

“I’m very concerned about the water, and the issue before us is pretty challenging – there’s no doubt about it,” said Emmett Keyser, one of 75 residents who took in the meeting at the Brandon Golf Course.

The town hall-style meeting saw a public outcry for new water sources outside the Big Sioux and Splitrock aquifers and new engineering experts guiding the city’s water decisions – or, at least, a second opinion on Brandon’s plan to continue drawing water from wells in the two aquifers. 

 Two concerns in particular surfaced: the aquifers’ ability to supply Brandon long-term and the safety and quality of that well water, some of which contains radium. 

Jon Brown of Stockwell Engineers, the Sioux Falls firm that advises the city on infrastructure projects, presented history on past water projects and Brandon’s plans for supplying the city over the next 20 years.   

Pat Hammond, a retired hydrologist, questioned Brown about the quality of water in the aquifers and their ability to sustain the city’s long-term water needs. She said the aquifer was already draining down and not replenishing. 

“How do you think you can get the quality of water the city needs when it’s already maxed out?” Hammond asked. “We don’t have the quantity in Splitrock Creek down the road. You’re going to mine that thing, which is actually against the law. To find that layer of thickness you’re going to have to go closer to Sioux Falls and bring it in.”

Several residents at the meeting wanted to know how Brandon’s water compared to that of other communities.  

 “Everyone knows the Culligan Man ‘Hey, Culligan Man,’” Wakefield said. “You can ask Mr. Culligan Man what he thinks about our water, and he specifically told me, ‘You know, it’s great for my business to come to Brandon. Brandon is probably the hottest town for water softener sales in the state. But I hope they do something about their water, because it’s not great for the residents.’”

Residents put in several requests for action, and Mayor Larry Beesley agreed to explore them. Beesley said city leaders would talk to Minnehaha Community Water Corp. and the city of Sioux Falls about being water sources, bring in experts to test the water quality in the aquifers and hold a second public water meeting.

“I think publicly they’ve made a commitment,” said Martha Smith.  

Brown said more upgrades could be made to the treatment plant, including water softening. 

City council member Blaine Jones pointed out the potential costs to residents.  

“I’ve tried really hard over the last three or four years to maintain our level of service to you at an affordable rate,” Jones said. “You have to understand, from a city council standpoint, this is a double-edged sword. Everything that we’ve talked about here tonight, and everything you guys want, costs money. I would love to make the improvements people have talked about, but are you willing to have your rates tripled or quadrupled in order to be able to do that?”

 Brown said the city’s water treatment plant can handle 2.2 million gallons of water a day.

Several residents at the meeting had the same question: Is that enough?

“For so many years we’ve banked on we’ve got good water under the ground. We’ve got all this unlimited supply of water,” Wakefield said. “But it’s coming up very quickly, and do we? We don’t have an unlimited supply under the ground. Really, what I see is we’re still not planning ahead. We’re building water treatment facilities at 2.2 million gallons a day that really don’t get us very far. How are we going to get a different water source – a different aquifer – not a shallow aquifer that’s not going to be able to sustain. What’s the plan?”

Brown said the city’s plan was to continue to drill in shallow aquifers and negotiate with MCWC a contract to buy and sell water. 

“We certainly would encourage to build larger than that – obviously, that’s a minimum,” Brown said. “We would certainly like to build larger than that so we have ample capacity.”

 “I’m hearing a lot of concern about the quality of water and the quantity of water. I think we should have another meeting with water experts before we make any decisions. It won’t cost us anything. And come and address the community and tell us what’s going on,” said Gene Hammond. 

Another resident voiced a request for a second opinion, likening drilling wells to “a Band-aid on a bleeding artery.”

Residents also asked about the level of radium in well number 7, which the city has drilled for future use. 

Brown deferred the question to his Stockwell Engineers coworker, Ryan Traux.

“When we did the pilot test it was right around 13 combined radium,” Traux said. 

The Environmental Protection Agency, under the Safe Drinking Water Act, has set the maximum contaminant level (MCL) for radium at 5.0. 

“The HMO improvements we’ve made to the water treatment plant that’s going to come online in the next two weeks – the intention is to treat that well number 7 so we get far below that 5.0 limit,” Brown said. 

“That’s a big number you’re trying to knock down to 5.0,” one resident said. 

Wakefield pointed to handout provided at the meeting showing that Brandon’s well water tested at a level 1.0 in 2014. 

“Having this report is great, but when I look at this report and I compare it to other reports in the area – it’s fine that we have this, but our radium is higher now…we’re at a 5.0, which is the highest level allowed. M-C-L. Maximum Contaminant Level. That’s the highest level the federal government will allow.”

City administrator Bryan Read said the city submits an annual report on the levels of chemicals in the city’s water. 

“We submit daily, weekly, monthly test results to the state and the feds. We’re required to test for certain chemicals at certain times, which we do,” Read said. “And those reports, we mail those out to every customer every year. Those are available. We have them down at city hall they are also on our website. If you would like, stop down to my office, and we will give you a copy.”

“There’s a battle cry,” said Sandy Elofson following the meeting. “People are getting involved in this. We’ve never have a water crisis.”

The Elofsons’ home is adjacent to the site of the city’s proposed eastside water tower. The city plans to build two water towers, each of which would hold 1.25 million gallons, at $8 million dollars each. The city is in currently negotiating the land purchases.

“Sixteen million can go a long way toward more infrastructure,” said Dave Elofson. “They can drill all the wells they want, but it’s just a stopgap measure.” 

The city’s plans also include expanding its water treatment plant. 

“It was a lot more involved than I thought it would be,” said Patrick Deering, who lives in Brandon’s Eagle Creek subdivision. “There were some pretty passionate opinions.”

Mayor Beesley said future public water meetings would be announced in local media and on the city’s website.

At Monday's city council meeting, city leaders decided to seek volunteers among Brandon residents for a water needs task force.