Utility Manager Marvin Schultes said such ramifications are unknown at this point. Federal regulators are still determining specific standards and rules called for in the Safe Drinking Water Act, he said. In the near future at least, Schultes said, the Wellhead Protection Area will not create any regulatory changes for producers in the area. I think it has to be taken a step at a time. Stange said the wellhead protection designation will make available some federal grant money for farmers to encourage them to do things like put land in the Conservation Reserve Program.
Nitrates are the primary threat to the city's water supply.
HU technicians with help from the Little Blue and Upper Big Blue natural resource districts are working to identify contamination and potential sources within the Wellhead Protection Area. Possible contamination sources include fertilizer from lawns, agricultural fertilizer, runoff from feed yards and leaking septic tanks. The land will be used to spread sludge, a solid byproduct of the sewage treatment plant northeast of Hastings, and will continue to be farmed.