Baxter staff: well rehabs raised output but well field remains below design; council asked to authorize pump quotes and future wells

City of Baxter staff told the council that recent well rehabilitations improved output but the city’s four-well field still produces less than the system’s original design capacity, and recommended replacing pumps in Wells 1 and 4, drilling two additional production wells, and operating more wells at lower rates to reduce drawdown.

The recommendations came during two linked presentations: an update on well performance and a hydraulic-model briefing by Chad Katzberger, a senior engineer with SGH. “I’m Chad Katzberger. I work with — I’m a senior engineer with SGH, and I specialize in water system planning and modeling,” Katzberger said while reviewing the city’s updated distribution model and demand projections.

City staff summarized 2023–24 well testing and rehabilitation work and the resulting capacity changes. Before the 2023 high-demand period, the well field’s total capacity was about 4,000,000 gallons per day (MGD) and the firm capacity (the amount available with the largest pump offline) matched the 2013 design flow at roughly 2.9 MGD. After rehabs completed in 2024, maximum daily output from all wells fell to about 3.3 MGD, and firm capacity dropped to about 2.4 MGD — roughly 600,000 gallons per day less than the earlier firm capacity and 700,000 gpd less than the design capacity.

Staff explained that specific capacity (gallons per minute per foot of drawdown) had declined during 2023 and partially rebounded after rehab work. The consultant noted variability by well: Well 3 pumped more than 600 gallons per…