Beecher Approves Over $35,000 for Emergency Repairs to Well #5

Article Summary: The Beecher Village Board unanimously approved more than $35,000 in emergency repairs for Well #5 after a recent video inspection revealed significant corrosion, mineral buildup, and a failing check valve. The essential repairs are needed to address a corroding component that risks breaking and to treat deposits inside the well casing.

Beecher Public Works Key Points:

• Approved $23,920 to Layne Christensen Company for well casing scarification, chlorination, and replacement of a corroded pitless spool.

• Approved two proposals from Core & Main totaling $11,980.59 for a new check valve and a new 18-year-old master meter.

• Repairs were deemed necessary after a video survey found a leaking discharge pipe, a corroding spool, and significant sulfate-based deposits and biofilm on the borehole walls.

BEECHER – The Village of Beecher will undertake a series of urgent repairs on a critical piece of its water infrastructure after the Board of Trustees approved three separate proposals totaling $35,900.59 to rehabilitate Well #5. The action came during the board’s June 9 meeting following a report from the Public Works Committee.

The need for the repairs was identified after a downhole video survey revealed several issues, including a buildup of iron and calcium deposits on the inside of the well pipe.

Trustee Erik Gardner presented the first proposal from Layne Christensen Company for $23,920. This work involves “scarification,” a process using a specialized tool to scrape the mineral deposits off the well’s interior walls. The well will then be chlorinated to prevent bacterial growth before being brought back online.

“There’s a buildup of iron and deposit calcium on the inside of the pipe that they want to take a basically a bit and run it down the inside of the pipe to scarify the walls,” Public Works Superintendent Matt Conner explained to the board.

The inspection also discovered that a “pitless spool,” a component welded into place, was suffering from significant corrosion. According to a proposal from Layne Christensen, the corrosion was advanced enough that it could lead to holes developing, potentially causing the “entire column pipe, pump and motor from falling down hole.”

“The corrosion attached to the weld where the weld actually weakens the metal,” Conner said. “So the corrosion actually started eating away at the weld that was done previously when the pipe was originally put in in 2007.”

In addition to the work by Layne Christensen, the board approved two proposals from Core & Main. The first, for $3,430, is to replace a check valve that is no longer functioning correctly. According to the agenda, the faulty valve is allowing water from the distribution system to leak back into the well house and down the shaft.

The second Core & Main proposal, for $8,550.59, will replace the well’s master meter. “The master meter is 18 years old and the public works committee made the recommendation to replace the meter while the well house is down,” Gardner read from the agenda.

All three measures were approved unanimously by Trustees Gardner, Roger Stacey, Brian Diachenko, Todd Kraus, Jessica Smith, and Joe Tieri.