Village of Dix debates water options

DIX – The Village of Dix is seeking a water solution that appears to be related to drought conditions. 

The Dix community is watching its nitrate levels. Levels have reached a point the Village was offering bottled water to residents and met with an engineer during the Friday Village board meeting. 

Water Engineer Rus Colby met with the board, discussing options including treating the water system. 

“The problem we’ve seen is that usually nitrates cover an entire area. The nitrates are predominantly coming from agriculture. And so, you know, those practices are kind of universal all around us, and so here we’re, we’re kind of, we’re limited by how much rain water, if we get a lot of rain, that tends to flush it out; dilute the nitrates that are there. Unfortunately, we’ve been in a drought for quite a few years now, so that tends to drive the nitrate levels up,” Colby said. 

He said the quest for a well with lower nitrates could result in a cost vs outcome discussion. 

“We say, you know, we want to find a place that has lower nitrates we need to be kind of wise about it, too. You get too far away from town, that cost gets finally high enough that you’re better off to go ahead and just treat the water,” he said. 

He said nitrates can be treated with reverse osmosis. He stressed “it is not cheap.” 

He said to treat the Village water, there would probably be a second building built near the school where the water would be treated. Just enough water would be treated to bring the nitrates under the limit. 

“What you do is, you treat just enough water to bring the water from the well down below the limit,” he said. 

He said there is very little minerals left in the water. 

No decision was made by the board. Colby appeared at the meeting to provide an update on water conditions.