Gravel permit granted despite proximity to private well

A Rock County resident’s worry over his drinking water quality prompted Rock County Commissioners to review a recent gravel extraction request.
At the Tuesday, April 19, County Board meeting, two motions were made to grant conditional use permits to Reker Construction & Aggregate LLC of Adrian.
Reker requested renewal of the five-year gravel extraction permit in Section 26 of Clinton Township.
The first motion to grant the permit lapsed for the lack of a second.
After a break, Commissioner Stan Williamson made the motion again to grant the permit based on the recommendations of the Rock County Planning and Zoning Commission and the county attorney.
Commissioners unanimously granted Reker the gravel extraction permit.
 
Hearing April 11 draws citizen concerns
The Planning and Zoning Commission conducted a public hearing on Reker’s permit request and one other request on April 11.
In the public hearing for Reker Construction’s conditional use permit, Hartman told commissioners that adjacent property owner Brad Bos raised 13 issues relating to the extraction permit.
Last year Bos drilled a new 40-foot well to supply drinking water to his home. The new well is located on the northeast corner of his farm and 300 feet from the southernmost border of the extraction area.
Current permit conditions require a pit to operate 500 feet from a private dwelling. Reker’s request meets that requirement.
“I am not against the excavation of gravel,” Bos said at the commissioners meeting. “I am just trying to protect my well.”
Williamson, who is a representative on the planning and zoning commission, said each of Bos’ concerns was addressed at the public hearing.
Three of the issues — placing of a berm between the well and gravel pit, extraction below the waterline, and holding the pit operator liable for well contamination — garnered the most discussion.
The three issues were also discussed at the commissioners meeting after County Administrator Kyle Oldre read a letter from Bos about his drinking water concerns.
County Attorney Don Klosterbuer said the commissioners couldn’t deny the permit based solely on its proximity to a private well.
He said gravel extraction doesn’t place nitrates in the ground and there is no information supporting that gravel extraction below the water table increases or decreases nitrate infiltration.
“Having worked with rural water for many years, I can tell you water problems are seldom single sourced. It is a very active aquifer — it flows through there pretty good,” Klosterbuer said. “Quite honestly, nitrates are going to almost always be related to agricultural practices.”
If the well does become contaminated, however, it is the well owner’s responsibility to investigate the cause, Klosterbuer said. If the source is pinpointed to one source such as gravel extraction, the operation is shut down immediately and the permit is revoked per existing regulations.
“In that respect the domestic well has protection because of its high priority,” he said.
Because the topography is relatively flat where the extraction would take place in proximity to Bos’ farm, the building of a berm between the well area and the gravel extraction could impede water from flowing naturally to the Rock River.
Mitch Reker with Reker construction said he doesn’t intend to contaminate a well.
“But I also know from the time I was 4 years old, we had to go to my grandmother’s house and haul water because our well was contaminated and there wasn’t a gravel pit within three miles of us but there were a lot of cornfields,” he said.
 
Dog kennel permit granted
Planning and Zoning Director Eric Hartman said no public comment was received on Vernon and Gloria Brouwer’s application to operate a small-scale dog kennel and dog breeding operation in Section 4 of Rosedell Township.
Commissioners unanimously granted the conditional use permit.