The Town of Erin has approved a tender for the drilling of a proposed municipal well, the first step towards a permanent well in the south end of Erin.
Christine Furlong of Triton Engineering presented the report at a special council meeting on Nov. 8.
She explained the town needs a new well so Triton will be testing the waters at the municipally-owned site. The first step is to drill the well, she explained.
The proposed well site is located at the intersection of Kenneth Avenue, Ninth Line and Wellington Road 52, south of the village of Erin. The property was the site of the former Mountainview well, which was shut down when the area was connected to the Erin water system.
The town received four tenders ranging from $36,000 to over $53,000. Furlong asked council to accept the lowest bid from Keith Lang Water Well Drilling, noting, “He does a lot of work around the town” and there is nothing wrong with his tender.
Councillor Matt Sammut asked if the location of the well would affect future growth development.
Furlong explained the town needed a well in the south end because there are already two in the north end.
“You can only put so many wells in a location before they start interfering with each other,” she said.
Councillor John Brennan said he recalled the site could not have a well due to the proximity of the neighbour’s septic system. He asked if this would be a problem for the municipal well.
“The overburden there is quite deep. I don’t have the old well records in front of me but we’re hoping we get down deep enough so that the (Wellhead Protection Area A) hopefully will be much smaller,” said Furlong. “This well is going to go deep into the rock, it’s going to be somewhere in the neighbourhood of 200 feet deep and could go deeper depending on whether or not we find water.”
Furlong added questions will be answered once testing is completed. She said the well has to be developed first and the plan is to undertake long-term testing in the spring.
Council unanimously awarded the tender to Keith Lang for $36,140.
