MILLERTON — Hydrogeologist Steven Winkley of the New York Rural Water Association made a presentation to the Village Board Monday evening about protection for the village’s wells.

"The area is delineated by a consulting firm that was paid for in the early 1980s to identify the well head," he said. "I put these boundaries into the GIS computer and mapped it."

According to Winkley, there’s a 200 foot radius around the wells that is the minimum land area the state Department of Health requires the public water supplier control. He added that any future supply wells could use 100 feet of land it owns plus another 100 feet of land they control through various means such as ownership or zoning regulations.

Tasks to complete for the wellhead protection plan include taking an inventory of potential sources of contamination, outlining and initiating implementation of protection strategies and planning for the future and review of emergency procedures.

Possible protection strategies include local laws, overlay zoning, site plan review and subdivision regulations, land acquisition, sale and donation of land and conservation easements. Additionally education, physical improvements and monitoring and testing help protect the well head.

"These are all potential protection strategies you can really focus on," Winkley said. "The law is quite tangible and pretty effective."

In terms of the proposed wellhead protection overlay district, Winkley said its purpose is to prevent ground water contamination and depletion in the area that supplies recharge to Millerton’s public supply wells.

"It would impose additional requirements above that required by the underlying zoning districts," he said, adding that it helps to plan for the future. "It’s good to develop long- and short-term drinking water replacement strategies for emergencies."

Additionally, Winkley said that the village should try to find a place within the municipality that is not open to contamination.

"If you’re interested we could possibly identify some possible areas for future wells," he said, adding that it’s probably best for the village to focus solely on sand and gravel aquifers.

Deputy Mayor John Scutieri asked about the well’s close proximity to village businesses.

"There’s a lot not obviously well understood about the aquifer," Winkley said. "It’s a fairly shallow aquifer. In my opinion it’s susceptible to contamination, but you’re fairly fortunate that it’s in a somewhat protected area.

"If it’s all right I would like to take a look and make sure there are no background quality issues as things might have changed a bit [since the early ‘80s]."