Site chosen for new city test well

With a goal of ensuring clean drinking water for generations of future residents, the City of Rhinelander is moving ahead with plans to dig a new test well at the city’s reservoir on County Road G.

After hearing from Phil Kriesel of MSA, the engineering firm contracted to assist the city with the well project, the common council voted unanimously Nov. 27 to approve a bid from CTW Corporation of Lannon, Wis. for two test wells to be dug near city wells No. 4 and No. 5.

The cost will be $178,210, according to the resolution. The ultimate goal is to drill a new well, to be designated as well No. 9, to alleviate pressure on the city’s current wells, two of which (Nos. 7 and 8) have been offline since 2019 due to dangerous levels of PFAS contamination.

PFAS are a group of man-made, fluorinated chemicals manufactured and used since the 1940s. Because PFAS are designed to be stable and unreactive to water, grease, heat, and other elements, they are often referred to as “forever” compounds. Studies have shown a link between human exposure to PFAS and adverse health effects. 

With the two wells offline, the city currently has three functioning wells.

According to information shared during a November 2022 council discussion on the well issue, at its peak, in the summer season, demand is approximately 2 million gallons of water a day.

 “Right about now (in the fall), it hovers around 800,000 to a million gallons a day,” former public works director Randy Myrum reported.

According to Kriesel, the location of the test site is at “the bottom of the hogsback hill on Oneida (Ave.)”

“Close to Bessey’s Meat Market,” Mayor Kris Hanus added.

According to Kriesel the test well will be quite shallow.

The goal is “to find out if there’s water, find out what the geology looks like, find out where bedrock is,” Kriesel explained. “There’s a lot of things that are determined of off that test well.”

Alderman Gerald Anderson asked if the city would plan to “drill right next to it” if the test site proves to be favorable,

“As close as we could to that well, because you don’t want to move very far from that,” Kriesel responded.

Alderman Tom Barnett asked if water from the test well will be tested for PFAS.

“There’ll be all kinds of water tests,” Kriesel responded.

“It’ll be interesting to see what you find 80 feet down,” Barnett replied. “We have sidewalks on top of sidewalks in this town and corduroy roads, it’ll be interesting.”

According to Kriesel, other locations within the city were explored and ruled out after the DNR weighed in.

“This wouldn’t be our first location we would pick to go to,” he explained. “There’s other locations, but this one does fit the bill for a number of good reasons. If it doesn’t pan out then we’re working with the city to find a second location for a test well.”

“We’ve been dissuaded by the DNR from going where we were originally looking at going.” he added.

According to city wastewater foreman Curt Johnson, one reason some of the other potential locations didn’t work out was because the DNR was “worried about the PFAS contamination coming down from Starks because of the way groundwater flows towards the river, so that’s why we’re moving more south.”

Starks is another name for the community of Stella, located 11 miles east of Rhinelander. As we have previously reported, some of the highest PFAS levels in the state have been found in Starks/Stella and several property owners have joined together in filing a federal lawsuit against the 3M company and the Rhinelander paper mill alleging the contamination is the result of the paper mill’s historical practice of spreading sludge containing chemicals provided by 3M on farmland in their community.

To view the full discussion on the well project, visit www.hodagtv.com and click on the link for the Nov. 27 meeting.

In other business, the council authorized utility rate increases to take effect on Jan. 1 and directed staff to apply to the Wisconsin Public Service Commission for a water utility rate increase, through the use of a simple rate case, as recommended by financial advisor Ehlers Inc. following a recent utility rate study.

“As you will remember, Ehlers reported that our utility rates required adjustment to meet our O&M (operating and maintenance) expenses, bonded debt, and for future projects,” city administrator Patrick Reagan wrote in his report to the council. “Furthermore, as you will recall, Ehlers strongly recommended that the City make an application to the Public Service Commission to have a simplified rate case performed now and to have a full conventional rate case performed in 2024. While adjusting rates isn’t fun or popular, the simple facts are these: the City of Rhinelander has bonded debt commitments that we are required to honor; the City of Rhinelander has employees that are vital to the continued operation and maintenance of our system; and we have future projects that will replace old infrastructure that is necessary to maintain our water system well into the future.”

According to information posted on the city website the rates for 2024 will be as follows:  

Wastewater Rate $10.35/1,000 gallons        

Stormwater Rate $13.39/ERU

Water Utility — No rate change at this time (12/23)

Before the vote, alderman Barnett stated that it’s “a shame” that the city must impose such a steep hike and noted that “management” should have “forecasted” this years ago. 

“I think we need to hold management to a higher standard going forward,” he added. 

Barnett did not specify if “management” was a reference to prior department heads, mayors/administrators, former council members, some combination of those or all of the above. 

In response to a request from Barnett and other alderpersons that the city do everything it can to provide information and assistance to residents, Reagan noted that links to resources for those who may struggle to pay their utility bills are available on the city website.

The link is https://www.rhinelanderwi.us/departments/water_utility/utility_billing___pay_online/utility_billing_assistance.php.

More information on the rate increase is also available at https://www.rhinelanderwi.us/news_detail_T21_R47.php.

The council discussion is available to view at www.hodagtv.com.