City Scales Back Proposed Well Ordinance

The city has revised a proposed ordinance that would have prohibited new construction of wells for drinking water in Darien, Municipal Services Director Dan Gombac said at Monday’s Administrative and Finance Committee meeting.

Only properties within a 530-foot radius of the former BP station property located at Cass Avenue and Plainfield Road will now be included in the ordinance’s boundaries.

“This would have no negative impact on anyone,” Gombac said. “Everyone in this quadrant is already on city water.”

The city considered the ban on new wells because environmental consultants said it would expedite the process of getting Illinois EPA clearance on the property. BP is in the process of cleaning up contamination from an underground gas tank that years ago leaked on the property.

By barring well construction in the immediate area of the site, BP will not have to develop a plan for dealing with future potential well contamination connected to the leak. The only well within the radius of the proposed ordinance is a city well that has been capped for many years, Gombac said.

Ward 7 Alderman Halil Avci objected to the original ordinance at the Feb. 6 City Council meeting because he said it was overly broad.

At Monday’s Administrative and Finance Committee meeting, Avci said he was pleased with the revisions.

“This provides a more than adequate margin of safety,” he said.

But residents don’t need to worry about gas in the water from the leak anyway, Assistant City Administrator Scott Coren said. Tests on groundwater under the site showed that it’s within acceptable levels of cleanliness, he said.

“The water itself is not contaminated,” he said. “It’s just one of the rules we have to go through.”

The boundaries of the circle around the BP property, now owned by the city, stretch from 75th Street and Cass Avenue on the north to 7702 Cass Avenue on the south. From east to west, it stretches from 1102 Plainfield Road to 1217 Plainfield Road.

Residents who live within that area wouldn’t be allowed to dig a well anyway, Gombac said. The DuPage County Health Department regulates all new well construction and insists that people in any part of Darien connect to the city water supply for drinking water if they have access to it. Darien gets its water from Lake Michigan via the city of Chicago.

City Council is scheduled to vote on the revised ordinance at this Monday’s meeting.