Answers on Hull Well Water Issues Coming Soon, According to Town Leaders
By Jacob Mathias
After more than a year of drilling new wells and collecting groundwater data in the Town of Hull, a hydrology report will be released within the next week to determine the present and future effects of a high capacity well adjacent to the town.
The results of that report, according to town leaders, will determine whether the town will pursue legal action against the City of Stevens Point.
“We currently have received the final report from our hydrologist and it’s currently being reviewed by our legal counsel,” said John Holdridge, chairman for the Town of Hull. “It’s the last report which incorporates what would happen if that pumping capacity at well number 11 goes to five million gallons or the maximum 13 million gallons per day.”
Beginning in the fall of 2013, residents of the Town of Hall began complaining about low water pressure, along with sputtering and drying up of privately-owned sand point wells. At that time, many in the community pointed to the city’s newest municipal well, nearby well #11.
Joel Lemke, then-director of public works for the city, in 2013 said the city had tested three of the homeowners’ wells, with one showing a decrease in output of .3 gallons per minute. The city also had monitoring wells near #11 which didn’t show any change in the ground water levels when compared to earlier tests, he said.
Lemke said if the city’s well were to blame, all surrounding residents would be facing similar water shortages within sand point wells, but the occurrences are too sporadic to support the city’s culpability. Ground water fluctuations could also be a cause, said Lemke.
The residents whose wells were affected had shallow sand point wells drilled to a depth of about 25 feet. In order to achieve water again, new wells had to be drilled to a depth of around 50 feet with one resident requiring a depth of 75 feet. The cost of drilling and installing a new well is between $6000 and $7000.
Well #11 can pump up to five million gallons per day but currently operates at about a third of its capacity. Ultimately it has a maximum capacity of 13 million gallons, according to city records; a volume that Hull leaders worry could have significant long term effects on neighboring private wells.
With guidance from residences, leaders in Hull hired Stephen Gassfield, a hydrologist from Montgomery Associates in Cottage Grove, who specializes in water resources engineering. After some initial study, the town issued a press release last August stating that analysis from Gassield showed well #11 was likely to blame.
Hull residents are currently working with the law firm of Anderson O’Brien in order to determine further legal action.
Prior to Gaffield’s analysis, former Stevens Point Mayor Andrew Halverson and David Haupt, of Haupt Well and Pump Company, both said that the city’s well was not to blame.
“The likelihood of a significant drawdown is extremely low,” Halverson said last year. “We’ve been looking at our monitoring wells, which are only a few hundred feet away, and we’re only seeing a fluctuation of about a foot at our current rate.”
“I don’t think the city has a lot to do with it,” said Haupt, whose company drilled some of the new wells in Hull. “I looked through some old well records for them and a lot of those wells were drilled in the 90’s. Water levels today aren’t much different so this should be an open and shut case.”
City Attorney Andrew Beveridge declined to answer questions, saying the city does not comment on potential pending litigation.