Knox County Water and Wastewater Superintendent Bill Pickrell informed the Board of Commissioners on December 16 that bids are currently being solicited for well number seven.
According to a meeting video, Pickrell said that the permit for the new well had expired. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will need to review the site to ensure no changes have occurred before issuing a new permit, which he expected within a few days. Bid openings are scheduled for January, and they wanted to have "all our ducks in a row," he said.
Pickrell explained that obtaining permits to install wells is "backwards" because a well must be drilled first to gather water quality data and determine its pumping capacity in gallons per minute. This information is then submitted to the Ohio EPA along with the county's design criteria for state approval. The county has already spent $94,000 on the first phase of installing a new well, with construction as the second phase. Pickrell expressed hope that the well would be installed and operational by late summer or early fall.
He further noted that requirements include revising or creating a new wellhead protection plan. Pickrell, along with the project manager and the county's engineering firm, reviewed what was needed to update this plan. He emphasized that while the 300 feet surrounding each well is most critical, requirements extend beyond this distance. The county must retain ownership of this land, which is why it owns property across from the wells.
Pickrell also mentioned an Ohio EPA representative who appreciated existing fences and controls around well number seven's field during an inspection. She informed them about an unknown gas well within the impact zone of the county's water aquifer, which was hidden among trees.
