CT Male and Associates, an environmental and civil engineering firm in Latham, has won the contract with Saratoga Springs to rehabilitate or redevelop the Geyser Crest well #7.
The Geyser Crest well system feeds water to the city’s southwest neighborhoods, and, along with the Bog Meadow wells, supplements the city’s main water source of Loughberry Lake, a release from the city says.
The release also says that the well yielded 500 gallons of water per minute when first installed in the 1980s and now yields 180 gpm.
Time is a large factor in the problem with a well, said Jonathan Dippert, the project geologist with CT Male in an interview today. Wells simply require regular maintenance.
“It’s a typical process,” he said. “[City officials] told me that they have already tried to rehabilitate [the well].” Rehabilitating is another way to say cleaning filters. Since that has not worked, the project may require a deeper well or a slightly different location.
“This well has produced quality water for over thirty years and it’s our hope that moving the location and or the well depth [will] restore production to where it started originally,” said DPW Chief Water Plant Operator Brett Johnson in the release.
A new well will bring with it a new screen—or filter—and the designs of screens have changed since the well was first installed, Dippert said. Newer ones tend to be more efficient. Well manufacturers make well screens based on the make-up of the soil in the well itself, Dippert said. C.T. Male will be overseeing that analysis.
“You have different openings throughout the length of the screen, so you can draw the maximum amount of water,” he said.
CT Male's services include investigation, design,and construction administration services, the release says.
DPW anticipates the engineering analysis, design and construction bid documents will be completed during the Fall of 2021 with the construction phase to follow shortly thereafter. The actual construction of the improvements will be handled by a well drilling contractor through a separate request for proposal, the release says.
The winning bid was $59,995.00.