Town planning new third well to deal with water 'emergency'

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Woodstock is planning to dig a third well in the same location of its existing two wells to end what the mayor has called a water “emergency” in the town.

Council unanimously approved the first steps at a council meeting Tuesday.

The town’s existing two wells were constructed more than 40 years ago. In April, the town learned there is a significant blockage one of the well’s pumps and repair is not possible given the high risk of impacting the second well, which is currently the only operational well servicing the town’s water supply.

Jones said in a previous statement the town has a stock of spare parts and components for everything, but any repairs would mean no water for the entire municipality during the fix.

Mayor Trina Jones said at that time the “situation has indeed reached an emergency level.”

The construction of a $4.1-million wellhouse intended to draw from a separate water source proved in the end to be unusable, with unfixable water quality issues.

Chief administrative officer Allan Walker said the municipality has been working with a company and was submitting a proposal for the location, drilling and development of the third well at the existing site on Well House Road near the Woodstock Yacht Club.

“This will involve the ground preparation drilling and construction of an observation well and the drilling construction of a production well and the caution is based on both of them being assumed to be 160 feet deep, which is the depth of our current wells in that area,” he said.

Walker asked the council for permission to proceed with tendering “the relevant portions” of the project, while “staff continues to prepare a final agreement.”

The first stage of the project is expected to cost around $665,000, but Jones expects the costs to be higher.

“We have no choice in this, right? We have to dig this well,” Jones said. “We expect all in that it’ll be closer to $1 million. We won’t know until we get through the engineering estimates phase, but I think it’s fair to say that this is the initial stage and there is no other option, unless we’re OK with running on one well and one pump.”

Walker explained the proposed third well would be independent from the other two wells, which share a well house.

“It will be independent and in a separate pumphouse with its own submersible pump,” Walker said after the meeting. “It will be tied into the existing wellhouse and water treatment infrastructure.”

Walker said the proposal does not include the infrastructure to tie it into the municipal water treatment and distribution systems, but the location is close to the current systems, which should make it easy to do.

He said the cost for that is being estimated separately and will depend on the final location.

“We’re going to ensure each test is satisfactory before proceeding to the next stage,” he said, adding the project will take about 20 weeks from tender to actual drilling.

“It may be necessary to pause production from our existing well for up to several hours, but this part of the process will be managed to minimize any risk of disruption,” he said.

Jones reminded the council of the urgency of the situation.

“We need to move quickly on it, and we feel good about the engineers estimate that’s been put forward tonight,” she said, noting the wells would continue to be a regular ongoing discussion for the council.

Following the unanimous approval from the council, Jones said the staff would proceed with tendering the relevant portions of the project, while preparing a final agreement for signature with the engineers.

She said the municipality is holding conversations and seeking other funding options for the project but for now “we can manage this, and we have no choice.”

Woodstock has been actively trying to find a secondary water source for the town since 2014, when spring floods temporarily shut down the town water sources.