First Replacement Wells Outside the
50 Foot Radius
Improvements at the Bunyan Road Well
Site
Monson, Massachusetts
The Bunyan Road Well site in Monson, Massachusetts
was inactive due to the accumulation of iron bacteria.
Iron bacteria is a microorganism that transforms iron
to an insoluble form, which results in a rust or brown
colored slime. These bacteria collected on the screen
of the Bunyan Road Well and reduced the available yield
of the source. Although numerous well cleanings have
been conducted, the capacity of
the source could not be restored. The Town discontinued
use of the well in 2002.
The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) had
recently revised its policy to allow for replacement
wells from 50 feet to 200 feet from the existing source,
provided that certain criteria could be met.
In part due to concern that a 50-foot replacement well
would exhibit similarly poor water quality results over
time, an application was made to the DEP for two replacement
wells locations approximately 175 feet and 250 feet
from the existing well. By constructing two production
wells, the allowable flow rate was split between the
two sources. This resulted in lower entrance velocities
to the screens and a smaller zone of influence for each
of the wells.
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