Lomira Streets Committee Considers Radium Reduction Investigation

Director of Public Works Nick Roskopf informed the Village of Lomira Streets Committee about rising radium levels in Well 2 at its meeting on Wednesday, April 23.
“We started seeing increases in our radium over the last four or five years, so the DNR increased our testing. What I’m worried about is if they are going to make us rebuild it and put a filter in that one,” said Roskopf. “I’m sure a project like that is $2 million or $3 million to do something like that, maybe more.”
Well 1 was rebuilt with a radium filter before Roskopf became the DPW director, and the well is also balanced with chemicals.
The DNR recommends pulling wells every ten years for maintenance. Well 2 was pulled in 2015 and is budgeted to be pulled by CTW Corporation this year.
“One of the things that I want to do when they pull the well is clean it,” explained Roskopf. “They chlorine shock it. They airblast it. They do all that.”

On top of the cleaning, Roskopf proposed the board hire Dr. Andrew D. Jacque with Water Quality Investigations to investigate the well when it is pulled and create a radium reduction plan.
“This would really make it more than crossing our fingers... Let’s do everything when we pull this well, from sampling to testing and getting this guy’s plan to eliminate or drop our radium down to acceptable levels. We would have a plan that the DNR would find acceptable. We may have to chlorinate the well. We may have to do other maintenance items that are very easy and very budgetable. He would be able to put this together to satisfy the DNR and, hopefully, save us from having to put in a radium filter. If he can’t come up with a solution or it doesn’t work, at least we know that we did everything we could to avoid that [radium filter] expense.”
“How long would it take?” asked Trustee Gary More.
“This summer, for sure,” answered Roskopf. “First things first, we have to get him timed water samples out so that he can analyze them. That will give us a background. Then, he is going to look at our camera inspection reports and give recommendations. That will determine when we pull this if anything other than just cleaning it is going to take place.”
Analyzing water samples and camera records are the first two phases of the four-phase investigation process. The third phase is creating “an ongoing well maintenance plan for use by Lomira Water Utility to optimize water quality and production from the well.” Phase 4 is an optional phase for when additional testing is required. The investigation would cost roughly $22,000, including Phase 4. The village would pay for the investigation through interest accumulated on a money market account.
“The $22,000 is needed to do the testing to get a plan set,” said Trustee More. “Once the plan is set up, we don’t know how much that’s going to cost after that.”
“If this $22,000 prevents us from putting a filter in, this is going to be the best $22,000 we’ve ever spent,” stated Roskopf. “I want to do more due diligence while the well is apart... The maintenance that cleaning this thing could do, I think, would cost less than or the same as the chemical–just the chemical–we use at the other well.”
The committee decided to recommend the board hire Water Quality Investigations to create a radium reduction plan for Well 2.
Committee Matters:
• The committee discussed sewer manhole repairs. During this year’s manhole inspections, it was discovered that sewer gases are eating the concrete walls of five manholes. Roskopf recommended the board contract with Visu-Sewer to re-concrete and epoxy the damaged manholes. The repairs would cost $495 per foot or roughly $23,265 total if they were completed this year. The committee asked Roskopf to look into whether the village could sign the contract this year to lock in the price but pay for and complete the repairs next year since it is not a budgeted expense. The committee decided to bring the decision to the whole board at its next meeting and to recommend the board delay the project until next year at the current price if possible.