Ruskin Street: Well 7 meeting goes...well...well!

Tonight, Sherman neighborhood residents had an opportunity to hear from Al Larson, engineer with the Madison Water Utility, and Ald. Rhodes-Conway about the planned project to replace and upgrade Well 7, located along Sherman Avenue next to Shabazz High/Sherman Middle. I was surprised at how good the turnout was -- about 25 by my estimation! -- and the beautiful weather certainly helped. The consensus seemed to be that folks felt a lot better about the project after the presentation.

Well 7 was built in 1939 as a Works Progress Administration project, and includes a pump house and 150,000-gallon reservoir. It is by far the smallest of the north and east side wells, with 300 million gallons pumped last year (compared to 800-900 million from wells 13, on Wheeler Road, and 15, near East Towne). In the past, well 7 ran only during the summer, but water quality issues with wells in the Atwood/Olbrich area forced the city to rely on well 7 to pick up some of the slack.

The project will shut down well 7 at the end of next summer. The city will buy the house next door, on the corner with Schlimgen Avenue, which the owner is willing to sell. Both the existing well and house will be torn down and replaced with an expanded pump house and reservoir.

Why expand? For starters, the DNR no longer favors equipment (like the backup pump at left) in basements, and well 7 has had basement flooding in recent years. More importantly, a larger pump house will make room for filtration equipment to remove virtually all the natural iron and manganese from the water. Well 7's iron level exceeds the FDA's "nuisance" standard; while the manganese level is below this standard, it is still higher than other wells. Further, an expanded 400,000-gallon reservoir meets modern fire safety requirements.

Equally important is what's not happening. Contrary to what some folks had heard, the physical 20-inch well bore will not be widened. The amount of water pumped will be increased in line with the new equipment, but still half the amount pumped by wells 13 and 15. The new construction will be two stories tall, not three, and finished in the same stone Art Deco style as the buildings being replaced. And the wellhead protection plan indicates that the project won't introduce or accelerate pollutants into the well.

Cleaner water for residents, better fire protection for the Northside, and a vital piece of the long-term solution to north/east Madison's water supply problems. All for less than $1 a month, which folks in the service area will make back and then some -- lower mineral content means longer life for your water heater, washing machine, water softener, and dishwasher.

This is a good project for our neighborhood, and tonight's presentation was exactly what the Water Utility needs to do to restore and build public confidence. More of this sort of outreach and the city won't find Tea-Party-driven campaigns gaining traction.

After the presentation, we got to peek inside the pump house. How many times do you get to see the inner workings of a utility that you take for granted? It's a cramped space, but it has a lot of cool-looking equipment. (Can you tell it made me feel a bit like a ten-year-old?)

The main pump is a hefty-looking unit...