Wellhead Protection

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Protecting your water

To protect the drinking water of our area, the City of Battle Creek has adopted a Wellhead Protection Plan (WHPP) for our main well field, the Verona Well Field, and for the Columbia Well Field. The plan was developed by a committee consisting of citizens with an interest in protecting our water resources and was approved by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) through its Wellhead Protection Program in September 2000. It has several key elements:

  • Wellhead Protection Area (WHPA) Delineation: The area that contributes groundwater to a well field; it is based on a groundwater ten-year time of travel. In other words, the delineation determines how long a contaminant can travel before affecting the public water supply.
  • Sources of contamination within the protection area: Known sources and potential sources of contamination, such as leaking undeground storage tanks, failed septic systems, spills of hazardous chemicals from industrial sites, transportation accidents and mismanaged manure operations were investigated. Through this process, the City identified twenty known sites of contamination, sixty-three sites of known or suspected significant hazardous substance use and sixty-four oil and gas well sites.
  • Management of the WHPA: Management of the area provides a mechanism to prevent the existing and potential sources of contamination from impacting our public water. Management strategies include the incorporation of wellhead protection language in the Community Master Plan, the promotion of proper closure of abandoned wells, the enhancement of the site review process, and outreach to business and industry within the WHPA.
  • Contingency Plan: Should a contamination incident occur threatening our community's water supply, a contingency plan has been developed for three scenarios: routine monitoring discovery, contaminant release from a site within the protection area, and chemical spills from a transportation accident.
  • Water resource education: Another crucial element of the WHPP with the following targeted audiences: the general public, area schools, city employees, township representatives, business and industry, and the agriculture community. Free advice for businesses is available through our Facility Risk Evaluation Program.

The City of Battle Creek is proud of achieving an approved Wellhead Protection Plan for our area. The plan provides a vehicle for keeping our drinking water safe!

Source Water Assessment

A Source Water Assessment was conducted by the Michigan Department of Envionmental Quality (MDEQ) in October 2003 and showed that the Columbia and Verona Well Fields possess a "moderately high" and "high" susceptibility to contamination, respectively. This determination is based on a geologic sensitivity analysis, on listed potential contaminant sources within the Wellhead Protection Area (WHPA), and on the following:

  • No Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) violations have occurred.
  • The well construction meets standards.
  • There are no potential contamination sources within the standard isolation area.
  • The community has an active Wellhead Protection Plan (WHPP) that supports management of existing or potential sources of contamination in the WHPA.
  • Known sources of contamination within the WHPA are being remediated to prevent movement of contamination to the municipal wells.

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Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2004 City of Battle Creek, Michigan
Last modified: March 02, 2005