County workers at the Effingham County Annex and other offices on Highway 119 North will be turning off county water and turning on Springfield water soon.

Commissioners approved having the city supply drinking water to a handful of county buildings currently drawing drinking water from an old well just behind the county annex. But the well has been failing and there have been complaints about the water from it.

“It’s an old well that is not chlorinated,” county engineer Steve Liotta said. “The staff has had on many occasions issues of water quality from that well.”

The expected water bills will be about $300, and commissioners also asked how much it would take to put in a new well. Putting in a new well would mean opening a new process with the state Environmental Protection Division.

“In EPD’s view, this is not a replacement well,” Liotta said, “because this well was never permitted to begin with.”

The cost of tying into the line will be just over $13,400, including the city’s impact fees and a meter box. The county also has to provide about $500 worth of materials with some work its water and sewer department can perform, with a little bit help from the road department, Liotta said.

Had the commissioners opted not to tie into Springfield’s line, that would have meant having to monitor water quality and performing water quality analysis on the well, which is currently not being done. Those reports would have to have been submitted to the EPD.

“They would be ongoing costs, just as it would be an ongoing water bill to the city of Springfield,” County Administrator David Crawley said. “The well is not an EPD-permitted drinking water well.”

The current well will be used for irrigation.