Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
MILFORD -ÊBy 2002, Milford is required by the state to have a wellhead protection plan in place.
Monday, a public meeting was held at the Milford town hall to educate the public about the process and what the town and public need to do to meet state mandates.
Phillip R. Bonneau, CPG, hydrogeologist with Ortman Drilling Inc., Kokomo, gave the presentation. He said, "The community is required by law to have some participation."
Once a local planning team is formed, he said, the first step is to make an inventory of potential sources of contamination. The intent of the waterhead management plan is to protect the town's water now and into the future.
"We need to inventory everything we can find out there," Bonneau said. He said the LPT needs to note old wells, pumps, feed lots, auto body repair shops and anywhere else there could be contaminants.
The major focus of the inventory is within an outlined delineation of water travel within five years. The area of the town outside the delineation also needs to be inventoried, he said.
He said the inventory can be accumulated by personal knowledge, talking to others from the area, a "windshield" survey, site visits and a database search. A "windshield" survey is a drive around town in an attempt to spot contaminate hazards not found otherwise.
Bonneau said, "This is your water. We want to see the aquafier last a long time. We don't want to see it destroyed."
The best way to get people in Milford to cooperate, he said, is through education. The town, he said, doesn't have the authority to tell people not to do something. He said the Indiana Department of Environmental Management doesn't even have that authority.
There are two ways to get cooperation - regulatory and non-regulatory.
"The best thing to do is education. Non-regulatory. You can't just take control of things," Bonneau said.
Non-regulatory activities include educational programs and workshops, mailings regarding disposal of hazardous chemicals, ground water quality monitoring within the waterhead protection area and acquiring control of land within the WHPA.
Finally, Bonneau suggested posting signs around the town making people aware of the WHPA and the need for a contingency plan if an emergency should occur.
As for the LPT, utilities superintendent Dallas Winchester said, "We have four or five members on the (local planning) team. Six or seven would be better."
In other business, clerk-treasurer Charlotte Siegfried said the town received $4,084 in federal emergency funds from FEMA for the past winter snow removal. The money, a 75 percent grant, is to reimburse the town for salt, equipment and overtime.
Winchester said about $938 was for overtime pay for utilities workers.
The council unanimously passed the overtime pay.
EMS also said they are updating the tornado plan for Milford and they hope to get a copy of the plan in a local paper soon.
The council also increased the head lifeguard's salary from $7 an hour to $8 an hour.
