Groundwater contamination at the site of a former dry cleaner in Waunakee has led the village board to approve a contract with an engineering consultant to determine options for remediation.
The village board approved a $14,000 contract with Ayres Associates, Inc., at the June 3 meeting, the first step in determining a path toward site clean-up where tetrachloroethylene, or PCE, a chemical used in dry cleaning, has been found.
Ayres Associates also assisted the village with environmental remediation at both the former Waunakee canning company site, where the Village Center and Cannery Row are now located, and the former Waunakee Alloy site, now home to the Waunakee Public Library.
Rising levels of PCE have also been found in testing of Well No. 2, causing Waunakee Utilities to close it. PCE was first detected at the well in 2018, said Tim Herlitzka, utilities manager. Drinking water with PCE can cause liver problems and an increased risk for cancer, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which has set limits on levels for drinking water.
According to Herlitzka, the well, located at Century Avenue and Eighth Street, has been routinely tested, and the contaminant levels have steadily increased since minimal amounts were detected in 2018.
“Our job is to provide clean drinking water for our customers and to have our customers know that they can have confidence that the water is clean,” Herlitzka said.
The utility has tracked the PCE levels and seen them rise.
“We just got to the point where the levels were starting to approach what’s called the MCL, the Maximum Contaminant Level that the DNR says you can have in drinking water, and… we were approaching the level where it was going to hit the 5.0 parts per billion MCL,” Herlitzka added.
At that point, the utility staff approached the utility commission and Administrator Todd Schmidt about taking the well offline. It was closed in early May.
Wells are tested quarterly, and Well No. 2 is the only one of the five operational wells found with PCE.
All of the operational wells pump water into the water towers and reservoirs for consumption, and Herlitzka said with one offline, the village’s water supply remains ample.
“We feel fortunate to have a very robust supply of water from all of the wells, so one well can be down,” Herlitzka said.
Yet the utility is looking at accelerating the process for the sixth well, which was originally planned in about 10 years, said Schmidt.
The Department of Natural Resources has also been monitoring the situation and requiring the owner of the former dry cleaner, Summit Credit Union, to test at the site, Schmidt said.
Information on the DNR monitoring of the site can be found at online at the DNR’s website.
“We’ve essentially asked the DNR to tell us what the status is,” he added. “We have this information and we want to care for our community as best as possible. Let us know what the situation is. What’s the timing? What are the next steps? What should the village be prepared to do?”
As part of the consultant’s contract, the village is requesting an “advisory guidance to [the] owner to determine a strategic action plan for the owner to move the project forward,” according to a memo from village staff to the village board.
Included in the work will be the development of a public/private partnership plan and community planning and economic development guidance, coordination with the DNR and other agencies, and funding opportunities.
The village may have access to grants or funding programs unavailable to the private sector, Schmidt said.
He noted that state and federal programs aided in the clean-up of the cannery and alloy sites. The alloy site included a mix of PCBs and mercury that required help from the EPA before building could proceed.
Herlitzka said the utility initially considered installing treatment equipment at the Well No. 2 site to keep the PCEs from getting into the distribution, but the small site leaves little room for the filtration equipment.
Also, the installation cost was nearly as high as putting in a new well.
More information about the well can be found on the village’s website.
Anyone with questions about the the contract with Ayres or the well can contact Kaylyn Staudt, communications manager, at (608) 575-6975. Residents can also view the June 3 meeting on YouTube.
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