Emergency well repairs underway in Riverhead Water District, conservation measures urged

The Riverhead Water District is making emergency repairs to a major supply well after a structural failure put it out of commission on June 19.

The well at the water district’s plant four on Osborn Avenue can produce 1.5 million gallons per day, Riverhead Water District Superintendent Frank Mancini said Friday. Losing its pumping capacity at the outset of summer in a district that typically comes close to pumping at maximum capacity during hot, dry spells can be very bad news, he said. 

“I nearly had a stroke last week because this couldn’t have happened at a worse time,” Mancini said. 

The weather so far this season has been cooperative. It has not been scorching hot or very dry, so that has helped a lot, he said. The peak volume pumped by the district this season so far has been 15 million gallons per day, Mancini said. When the weather is hot and dry, the district can pump near its maximum capacity of 20 million gallons in one day. If the weather turns hot and dry before the Osborn Avenue well is back in operation, it will be a whole different story, the superintendent said.

The water district is asking all customers to voluntarily comply with odd-even watering at their homes and businesses. If a house or building address ends in an even number, water on even-numbered days. If it ends in an odd number, water on odd-numbered days. All customers should avoid watering every day between the hours of 5 and 9 a.m., since that’s when household water use peaks, the water district said in a notice posted on the town’s website last week.

Mancini is optimistic about how quickly the district will be able to get the well back in operation. 

The superintendent explained what happened and the sleuthing he and water district plant operators had to do to figure out what happened and how to go about fixing it. 

Mancini said he got a call from a water district operator on June 19 to say that Well 4-1 was not producing much water and it was black. The well in question is one of the oldest and deepest wells in Riverhead’s system, Mancini said. It’s 720 feet down and was built in 1969. 

“But the pump was replaced in 2019 and should go for 20 years,” he said. 

He shut the well down and called his emergency service contractor. 

Meanwhile the water district video-logged the well to see what was down there. They saw that the pump, which is 16 feet long, had separated from the discharge piping and fallen into the well, smashing into the well’s riser pipe at about 605 feet below ground, Mancini explained.

After assessing the  situation, Mancini said, “​​we built a tool to fish it out.” They were able to catch the coupling of the pump shaft with the tool, and pulled the pump shaft out. They got it out on Wednesday and when Mancini saw the damage to the broken shaft, he knew the pump was going to be damaged. “I ordered a new pump Thursday morning,” he said Friday. It should be here in about a week, he said.

The pump unthreaded itself from the shaft. It looks like it wasn’t properly threaded onto the column, Mancini said. He estimated the repair will cost the district about $100,000.

The pump and its 10-foot riser pipe still remain in the well, he said, so the next task is getting them out. The district did a new video log Thursday to examine them in detail.

“We’re building a new fishing tool to try and get that last section out,” Mancini said. “And then when my new pump comes in, I’ll put it in and we’ll be back in business,” he said.

There will be a period of bacteria settling and testing before it can be certified for production, Mancini said. 

The superintendent is confident the district can get the job done expeditiously, barring any additional complications. 

“I was in charge of all the wells and pumps at the [Suffolk County] Water Authority and there were 600 wells there. So this is my sweet spot,” Mancini said.

The well that’s down is one of two at Plant 4. The other well at Plant 4 is operating normally, he said.

Meanwhile, he said, district customers are urged to conserve — and hope that we continue to have regular rainfall and mild temperatures.