City should avoid hasty water decision

After all McCook's been through in its long search for a safe and abundant water supply, it would be foolish to proceed without fully exploring all options.

That being said, it is possible there is a middle ground in the McCook City Council's decision about developing a new water well field.

As you have probably heard by now, the council voted 3-2 Monday night to contract with Miller & Associates and W Design Associates as the engineers for development of a new well field north of McCook. Mayor Jerda Garey, Dick Trail and Jerry Reitz voted in favor of employing the engineers, while council members Phil Lyons and Jim Kenny voted in opposition.

The good thing about the hiring of the W Design and Miller firms is that they are local. Their owners and their employees live here, and the firms' future livelihood is tied to the community's success.

But, because they are hometown people, the engineering firms have taken a heavy responsibility upon their shoulders by agreeing to engineer the project.

As McCook citizens have shown throughout the water debate, they not only want -- but they demand -- a sensible and economical solution to meeting the community's current and future water needs.

Based upon the $15,000 study they did in March, W Design Associates and Miller & Associates recommended that the city develop water well fields north of McCook and pipe the water to McCook. The engineers were encouraged by the study results, which showed the north well sites met federal safety standards, coming in below the maximum levels allowed for nitrates, arsenic and uranium.

However, since the engineers' findings were announced, a number of questions have been raised, including the following:

1. Has anyone checked to see if there is a sufficient water supply south of McCook to meet the community's needs? The current city water wells south of town are near or above the nitrate limit, but what about well sites farther to the south?

2. Can the water storage facility on South Street be left where it is, but moved above ground to avoid diesel spill contamination?

3. It was demonstrated by the engineers, when tests were done, that sufficient water existed north of McCook to meet the community's needs. But, will the flow of water be sufficient to sustain McCook's needs during the irrigation drawdown periods during the summer months?

In order to address these questions -- and others -- the middle ground for the council is this: Stick with the hiring of Miller & Associates and W Design Associates as the engineers for the city project, but expand their responsibilities. Do not limit them to development of a well field north of McCook, but instruct them to fully research other possibilities as well.

Too much has been invested -- money-wise and emotion-wise -- to not do all that's possible to find the best water solution for McCook ... now and in the future.

The council is close to bringing this extremely important matter t0 a final resolution. Even though they are under great pressure to act quickly, members of the council must not let this urgency force them into a decision which has not yet been fully embraced by the community.