Village to vacate Well #2, in operation since 1931

Well #2, located on East Main Street, which has served the community for more than 90 years, will soon be capped and vacated. A new well location is yet to be determined.

by Marsha Chartrand

While being proactive about Manchester’s water quality is a passion for Water/Wastewater Superintendent Thomas Thompson, it was still a bit of a shock when he learned a couple of months ago that the village’s oldest, but still-functioning, well was actually in pretty abysmal shape.

“We have been working on our Capital Improvement Plan,” Thompson explained, “and we knew that we needed to take a look at the well before we fixed a pump and motor that was due for replacement. We had Northern Pump and Well put a camera down, and what we learned was not good news.

“The well was originally drilled in 1931,” Thompson continued. “It has always been a low-production well, and it has been working just fine all along, but after we saw the video, we knew we had very limited options. The casing was damaged, grouting was bad, and we met with EGLE and learned that due to its age, we could not rehabilitate the well; we would have to cap it.”

A law enacted relatively recently affected the village’s decision — any well drilled prior to 1978 can no longer be rehabilitated but instead must be re-drilled. There is no room to drill a new well near the current location of Well #2 on Main Street, so a new location will need to be found. Meanwhile, Well #2 will be filled with bentonite (clay) chips, which will swell and absorb the water, and it will be capped with concrete.

“Manchester is finding ourselves once again at the forefront of a water issue that other small communities will soon be dealing with,” said Michael Sessions, Village Manager, referring to the lead water-line issue as well as the regulations about wells drilled prior to 1978. “We are fortunate that we have chosen to be proactive at this time, allowing us to plan for the capital outlay in replacing this well.”

Thompson agreed. “We don’t want to wait for something else to happen,” he said. “Northern has been very proactive with preventive maintenance on our wells, and we’ve developed a strong partnership with them to determine our infrastructure needs. Our next step will be to do an inspection on Well #1. We can safely shut down and cap Well #2, because it has been low-production, and we will need to determine a location for the new well, which will be located somewhere between the Wastewater Treatment Plant and Well #3, which is located in the area of the Disc Golf course.”

The new well location will use existing infrastructure and connections as much as possible, he added.

Sessions explained that continuous maintenance of the village well system is essential to the health and well-being of the public water supply. “We regularly take bacteriological samples of each of the wells and add disinfection as necessary,” he said. “We know if there’s an issue and by being vigilant we can deal with it immediately.”

Thompson added, “We are making sure the village’s water supply is safe 365 days a year.”

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.