BERLIN– Town officials are reviewing options for a well on Branch Street after identifying mechanical issues.
Town Administrator Jeff Fleetwood told the Berlin Town Council this week the town’s Branch Street well — one of three — is now offline. Town staff identified mechanical issues with the aging well during routine maintenance.
“We are in the process of determining what the next step will be,” Fleetwood said.
While the town’s other two wells are meeting its needs, Fleetwood said the Branch Street well still needed to be repaired or replaced. The well, which dates back to the 1940s, is just one of many pieces of aging infrastructure the town is trying to maintain. Mayor Zack Tyndall said this highlighted the need for capital planning going forward.
“I think the takeaway is the Town of Berlin has a lot of aging infrastructure,” he said.
Fleetwood said the options for the well were basically repair or replacement. Repair, however, will reduce the flow in the well.
“What you’re doing in essence is putting another sleeve inside of that well so it’s going to reduce the size of the well,” he said.
He said he was working with engineers as well as Tyndall to determine the best option for the town moving forward. Fleetwood stressed the town’s other two wells were capable of handling municipal demands. The town typically operates on 400,000 to 500,000 gallons per day of water. One of the functioning wells generates 1.5 million gallons per day while the other well generates 500,000 gallons per day. The Branch Street well, when it was functioning, produced 350,000 gallons per day.
“It was the least producing well of all that we had,” Fleetwood said.
