Plans to bring well monitoring in-house scuppered

The City of Sundance has opted not to perform its own groundwater monitoring at the now-closed landfill site after finding that the process is more finicky than first thought.

Public Works Director Mac Erickson researched the idea at the request of Mayor Paul Brooks. At the present time, the city pays around $37,500 per year for monitoring at the landfill site to ensure neither the waste nor byproducts such as methane are leeching into the soil.

Erickson told the council that he had spoken with DEQ to query the cost and been told that, though it is high, it is not too far out of line as to be questionable. Erickson also spoke with city engineers Trihydro, he said, and ascertained that the cost is high due to the new wells.

Three new wells were installed (despite weather difficulties”) on the week of February 18, said Jeff Young of Trihydro. They will be sampled on the week of March 18.

Erickson told the council that these wells must be tested quarterly for now but this is hopefully “just an initial sting” and annual testing will resume next year.

Erickson also explained that the process of testing is fairly tricky and can be done wrong very easily, which would corrupt the results and potentially cause problems for the city.

Brooks explained that the discussion began when it was realized that the $37,500 is basically “a quarter of a man” if you factor in both wages and benefits, so it would theoretically make more sense to perform the testing in-house. However, he also noted that looking at the paperwork had revealed that an engineering professional must sign off on the tests.

Erickson gave his conclusion that bringing the testing in-house could be possible later down the road but recommended, for now, that the council leave it in the hands of the city engineers. The council concurred with his thoughts.