City to explore treatment of contaminated wells, feasibility of four-way stops in business district

Denied permission to drill a new municipal well on the Nicolet College campus, the City of Rhinelander is turning its attention to restoring its existing infrastructure. Approximately two weeks after the college formally declined the city’s request to site a well on its Lake Julia property, the Common Council directed city staff to explore pilot treatment options for its two inactive municipal wells located near the Rhinelander-Oneida County Airport.
The two wells, designated as Nos. 7 and 8, have been offline since 2019 due to higher than acceptable levels of PFAS (Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances).
(PFAS) are a group of human-made chemicals used in a wide range of products for their resistance to water, oil, and heat. Often referred to as “forever chemicals” because they do not easily break down in the environment or the human body, PFAS have been used in items such as non-stick cookware, waterproof clothing, firefighting foam, and food packaging. Exposure to certain PFAS has been linked to potential health risks, including increased risk of some cancers.
On July 28, Greg Droessler, senior project manager with Town &Country Engineering, walked the alderpersons through the options available to them following the college board of trustees’ July 15 announcement declining the city’s well proposal. Droessler advised the city could continue to search for a new well location, though it has proven to be difficult to locate sites that have water in sufficient quality and quantity to meet the city’s needs. The council could attempt to resume a dialogue with Nicolet College officials, an idea Mayor Kris Hanus endorsed, or focus on attempting to treat the two offline wells in order to restore them to service. On a more positive note, Droessler explained that there are more options for treating PFAS contamination today than there were five years ago when the two wells were first taken out of service. The proliferation of PFAS discoveries in Wisconsin has led to innovation and study, he explained.
“Communities up and down the Wisconsin River are all faced with the same challenge,” he said.

Hanus suggested the council not throw in the towel in terms of resuming a dialogue with Nicolet.
“I think it’s still worth trying to have that dialogue to see if we could (find) any compromise and talk versus just abandoning the year and a half of work, the $100,000 of taxpayer money, and all this just based on one letter,” he said.
However, the alderpersons appeared more interested in moving in a different direction, namely treatment of the wells near the airport. Droessler indicated the cost to treat those wells would be approximately $7 million but the city could apply for approximately $3,5 million in grant funding and does have approximately $1.6 million in federal funding available through an earmark secured by Sen. Tammy Baldwin. Pilot testing would take 1-3 months, with potential operation in about 2 years, he added. Ultimately, the council chose not to immediately pull the city’s application to the DNR for Well #9 (the one they had hoped to locate on the Nicolet campus) but will not pursue Public Service Commission approval.
In other business, the council also heard a report on the city’s July 21 listening session on a proposal to convert Brown Street to a one-way. Mayor Kris Hanus reported that the public expressed strong opposition to such a change but a number of people indicated they would like to see improvements to traffic flow in the downtown business district. Ultimately, the alderpersons directed the administration to study feasibility of four-way stops at the Brown/Rives and Brown/Frederick intersections. The panel also approved the removal of two egress points from city parking lots on Courtney Street.
To watch the full council meeting, visit www.hodagtv.com.