Water Authority plans to use dirt-cheap tests Soil samples could signal chemical problems for water retrieval By Ray Barrington News-Chronicle The Central Brown County Water Authority is getting a break on finding out more about how its wells could handle aquifer storage and retrieval, the method it wants to use to store water piped in from Lake Michigan. Authority members learned last week that soil samples from municipal wells are stored by the Wisconsin Geological Survey. That means that the soil can be tested for minerals, such as pyrite, that can react with oxygenated water to cause higher levels of arsenic in the water. This could signal problems that might occur with some wells that would make them poor candidates for ASR use. The authority's Technical Committee voted Monday to approve sending samples from eight wells in authority communities for testing, at an approximate cost of $1,260. By contrast, a pilot test of ASR on a single well costs $829,000. The tests will be done by ALS Chemics of Thunder Bay, Ontario. "This may be the cheapest analysis we've ever done," said Ron Umentum of Bellevue, a committee member. ASR is a method used to store treated water for later use. The authority would store water from Lake Michigan in its wells. However, ASR tests in Green Bay show arsenic problems with the water reacting with pyrite in the underground rocks. Many of the wells in authority communities are lined. "I think that would give us a lot of good information," said Dave Johnson, a geologist with the state Department of Natural Resources. "That water doesn't play nice with those minerals." Authority communities are Ashwaubenon, Allouez, Bellevue, De Pere, Hobart, Howard, Lawrence, Ledgeview and Scott. The authority has reached an agreement to purchase water from the city of Green Bay to replace failing and unsafe wells in its communities.