State pressures Madison to get serious about permitting private wells

Anita Weier  —  5/21/2008 6:25 am

Madison Water Utility officials have no idea how many private wells there are in the city, but the state Department of Natural Resources wants them to find out.

Hundreds -- or even thousands -- of unregulated private wells are believed to exist in areas of the city that were annexed after homes were already built. Some may be used to water lawns or for drinking water not subject to utility fees. Others may have been closed in an improper manner, allowing pollutants to slip in and out. Still others might not be known to homeowners if they've been covered by garages or other structures.

But known or unknown, covered or uncovered, unregulated private wells could be easy pathways for contaminants to enter the city's water supply, officials say.

"It's as if you have straws in the ground," said Tom Stunkard, public water supply engineer for Dane and Rock counties for the state Department of Natural Resources. "If there is a major spill of gasoline or some other substance, that liquid could find the straw and go through it to the groundwater."

In a letter to the Madison Water Utility last August, Stunkard expressed his concern that many of these wells still needed to be accounted for and permitted by the city.

"The water utility must continue to enforce the city's private well abandonment ordinance ... to protect the groundwater aquifers against possible contamination," he wrote to David Denig-Chakroff, who stepped down as manager last September amid criticism about water system quality.

"We are not trying to get rid of private wells; we are trying to make sure they don't create a groundwater problem," Stunkard said in an interview, noting that he has been asking utilities in the area to take action regarding such wells for years. "If they want to use a well, it should have a permit."

State and local officials have widely varying estimates of how many private wells may be within Madison's city limits.

Stunkard believes there could be as many as 6,000, based on estimates of the number of properties annexed over many years where a house existed before the property was connected to the city water system.

Joseph Grande, water quality manager for the Madison Water Utility, puts the number nearer to 3,000. Larry Nelson, city engineer and interim manager of the utility, said there could be anywhere from 300 to 3,000.

Whatever the number, Nelson said the water utility is serious about enforcing the permitting requirements for wells.

"We have pledged to the DNR to find out how many there are and make sure they are permitted or abandoned," Nelson said.

Most wells today are drilled outdoor wells, with metal casings and grout protecting the water, which is pumped to the surface for use. Some old-fashioned dug wells may also still exist, Stunkard says.

Basement wells are allowed in some circumstances, but they must be in walkout basements so the basement can be drained if outside water gets in and contaminates the well.

Both private wells and the public water system tap into underground aquifers. Though most private wells draw on a shallower pool of water than city wells, a permeable layer of shale between the two could allow contaminants to reach the water used by the city wells, officials say.

That's why the wells need to be inspected and permitted, they add.

The Madison Water Utility issues well permits for five years. Well owners pay $100 for an inspection by utility inspectors, who also collect two water samples at different times for testing for coliform bacteria by the Public Health Laboratory for Madison and Dane County.

The DNR, additionally, recommends that well owners have their well water tested annually, either by the State Laboratory of Hygiene, the Madison-Dane County lab or another certified laboratory. Testing should also be done if the look, taste or smell of water changes.

About 170 private wells in Madison already have permits and another 200 to 300 have been abandoned in a proper manner, Grande says. Those that were abandoned may have been closed because the owner decided to do so, or because the well had problems and the homeowner decided to abandon it rather than bring it up to code.

For recent annexations to the city, the water utility has identified the locations of private wells and the wells have been permitted or properly abandoned. But now the utility is trying to account for wells on property annexed years ago.

City staff is combing property records from the water utility, city engineering department and city assessor and will soon contact owners by letter to confirm the status of wells.

"We are trying to be more aggressive," Grande said. "Now we have actually taken a look at the entire city and looked at the age of the water main and the age of the house. If the house is older than the water main, it is likely there was a private well. Whether that well still exists is something that will be investigated."

Areas with high potential for private wells include the town of Blooming Grove, the town of Madison and the Spring Harbor area, officials say.

Letters will be sent to property owners in geographic areas of about 160 acres at a time so they can be handled administratively, Nelson says. The letters will ask about the presence of wells and offer information on scheduling an inspection.

"We would like to get this issue out to the real estate industry as well so that if a property is transferred, both the buyer and seller are knowledgeable that there is a well on the site," Nelson said. An unknown well, he added, would "be a liability on the part of the buyer."

Madison is not alone in its responsibility, under state code, to identify and either permit or get rid of unused, unsafe or improperly constructed private wells.

A reminder of this duty has been included in every one of the annual letters the DNR's Stunkard has sent to municipal water utilities over the past 20 years, he says.

Some municipalities have worked faster than others at these tasks. Janesville, Stunkard said, has done a good job but Madison is handicapped because it has more wells than smaller cities.

Licensed professionals are available to abandon wells properly and local governments have programs to ease the expense to homeowners.

Dane County has a reimbursement program for areas outside Madison that provides up to $350 for well abandonment expenses. Homeowners on property already annexed by Madison are not eligible. The DNR also provides grants, subject to income level, that cover up to 75 percent of abandonment costs, up to $9,000.

Anita Weier  —  5/21/2008 6:25 am