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Consultants report two promising groundwater sites; council told production well could be online in about a year
Summary
Consultants presented a groundwater-source exploration study identifying two city-owned parcels (King Arthur Court and Geyser Crest) with promising geophysical signals; consultant said monitoring, Part 5 sampling and design work could allow a production well by fall 2026 in a best-case schedule.
City-commissioned consultants reported progress on a groundwater-sources exploration project meant to identify additional municipal water supplies.
A presenter from CT Veil described a phased approach: desktop review, wetland delineation and geophysical surveys (seismic refraction and electrical-resistivity imaging) at four candidate parcels. He said the team narrowed the search to two promising city-owned locations — King Arthur Court and the Geyser Crest well field — where geophysics indicated transmissive (sand and gravel) material that may yield consistent groundwater.
"We targeted that red, yellow and green as a potentially highly transmissive location," the presenter said, describing the geophysical cross-sections and the planned target boring locations. He added the team has installed observation wells and will run grain-size analyses to design production wells.
Council members and residents asked about water quality, depth and contaminants. The consultant said New York State Department of Health Part 5 sampling will be used to test for lead and other water-quality parameters before any production well is advanced. When asked for a timeline, a project representative said that, in a best-case scenario, if bid documents are completed and a contractor is selected in the first quarter of 2026, a production well could be ready by fall 2026 — roughly 9–10 months after contracting and construction.
Residents raised concerns about potential contamination from nearby airport-related PFOA/PFAS; consultants said monitoring and Part 5 lab results will determine whether a location is suitable for a production well, and any contaminant of concern would preclude construction there.
Next steps: consultants will complete borings, grain-size analyses and Part 5 sampling, then report findings to the city engineer to decide whether to advance production-well design and bidding.
