Residents of Wells River are still grappling with uncertainty about their water supply after the village well was shut down in July as a precautionary measure following an oil spill that contaminated the surrounding area last January.
Since the village well was turned off, the nearly 500 residents who depended on it have been relying on water from nearby Woodsville, New Hampshire, which has been hauled across the Connecticut River by trucks carrying about 30,000 gallons of water per day, according to Erik White, one of the village’s trustees. But those trucks will no longer be able to climb the hill to deliver water to the storage tank during winter months.
The possibility of going without water has alarmed residents, but White said the trustees are doing everything they can to prevent that from happening.
“We’re working through it just as fast as we can, assuring the people of the village of Wells River: we will not run out of water,” he said, adding that it would still help if people conserve water as much as possible.
White said the village trustees will present state officials with an action plan by October 15 to determine the next steps.
The first option, according to White, would be to install a new tank at the bottom of the hill that the trucks could reach during colder weather. The new tank would then be connected to an existing transmission line to bring water to the storage tank on the hill.
Another option would be to turn the well back on. However, White said the trustees would prefer to finish the cleanup process before using the well again. If they do need to use the well, they would like to install and employ a granular activated carbon treatment system, which would filter the water in case of possible contamination from the oil spill, he said.
Matthew Hunt, community operations supervisor with the state’s Drinking Water and Groundwater Protection Division within the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation, said that the testing conducted has never shown contamination from the oil spill in the well while it was in use. The state recommended that the village turn the well off in July so that the withdrawal of water wouldn’t move the contamination toward the well while cleanup efforts continued.
“That was an excellent precautionary measure, and it has so far prevented the well from becoming contaminated,” Hunt said.
The challenge for the village now, White said, is making sure they have enough money to build the new systems needed to provide water and continue the cleanup. So far, the village has relied on money provided by Union Mutual — the insurance company that covers the property where the oil spill occurred — to pay for cleanup costs and for bringing in water from New Hampshire.
White said the insurance company can provide up to $2 million. While he thinks there should still be enough money left to install a new tank, he said the village might have to look for other funds for the granular activated carbon system, which could also take more time to implement.
Max Saylor and Matt Moran, who work with the department’s Waste Management and Prevention Division, said the state contributed to the initial cleanup efforts through the Petroleum Clean-Up Fund, which provided $50,000. The remaining costs should be covered by the responsible party, they said.
White also mentioned the village had received a federal grant before the oil spill to explore building a second water source. They have started to evaluate locations for a potential new well, but the approval and construction process could take over a year, he said.
“That’s something which is not going to happen before the winter time,” said Hunt, with the DEC’s drinking water and groundwater protection division.
“We’re focused right now on making sure that there are measures in place such that the system can function throughout the winter, and then we’ll look at more mid-long range permanent solutions next year,” he said.
