Answer to Waukesha water woes?

Freeman Staff

WAUKESHA – The city is set to add another shallow well site in its effort to reach compliance with federal radium standards.
The Waukesha Water Commission has recommended buying a site on the city’s southwest side from Bielinski Brothers Builders for $75,000. The land was valued at $100,000, but the firm offered the site at the lower price, said Waukesha Water Utility General Manager Dan Duchniak.
It should add about 1 million gallons of low-radium water to the city’s supply, which pumps out about 8 million gallons per day.
Combined with other well projects under way, the new shallow well eventually should get Waukesha into compliance with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency radium standards.
The rules require a maximum of 5 picocuries of radium per liter at each system entry point, while Waukesha and more than 40 other Wisconsin communities have until Dec. 8 to reach that mark.
City officials have said Waukesha won’t meet the standard but likely would do so if the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources allowed for measurements by “flow-weighted averaging” – or the average of all entry points.
The largest well project getting under way for Waukesha is a $4.2 million filtering of well No. 10, the largest deep-aquifer well used.
The city recently opened two other shall well sites. The shallow aquifer has low- or no-radium concentrations, while the deep-aquifer contains high levels of the element known to cause cancer with prolonged, consistent consumption.
One site’s water is blended with deep-aquifer supply, while the other involves a chemical that removes radium. Officials also continue seeking two shallow wells south of Waukesha with potential to provide 3 million gallons of low-radium water per day.

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