Fairbury City Council approves spending on Crystal Springs water sampling

FAIRBURY, NE — As the Fairbury City Council continues its quest to locate a new water source for the town, the group took the next step at its latest meeting. 

The Fairbury City Council unanimously approved putting no more than $10,000 toward collecting water samples from Crystal Springs. The town already has wells at Crystal Springs, but they haven't been used since 2021 due to biofilm buildup in the wells. 

The hope is the water sampling gathers more information to help combat that issue as well as provide more data on nitrate levels in the area. Councilman John Ebke says the initial round of testing should not cost more than $4,000, but additional rounds of testing may be needed. 

This moves comes after the city council scrapped a plan to build a new wellfield northwest of town to find a new source of water for Fairbury. The council is concerned about rising nitrate levels at the current site the town pumps its water from. 

The new proposed wellfield, which was a partnership with the Little Blue NRD, ran into pushback from local landowners. Keeping costs and that in mine, the council voted to not move forward with the project in November.