An aging, deteriorating wellsite that’s part of the Oxford Township water system is about to get a significant upgrade.

Last week, the township board voted 7-0 to contract with Trojan Development Co. for $654,372 worth of improvements to the Mickelson Shores wellsite located at the northwest corner of Harwood Drive and John Paul Court. The money will come from the township’s water fund.

“It’s not operating at its full capacity right now,” said township Engineer Jim Sharpe.

The site contains two pumps – one with a capacity of 800 gallons per minute (gpm) and another that’s able to move 200 gpm.

“Only one of them is operating currently,” Sharpe said.

According to Sharpe, the existing well house is “twisted” and “sinking into the swamp down there.”

“It was actually twisted enough that it broke one of the pipes,” he said.

As a result, the 800-gpm well was taken off-line last year.

Sharpe explained as part of the improvements, the two existing turbine pumps will be replaced with two submersible pumps, which won’t require a wellhouse to protect them from the elements because they will be located inside the well casing, not aboveground.

“We’re actually going to demolish the (well house) that’s over there,” he said.

Other improvements include converting the existing generator building into an electrical control room and protecting the site from potential intruders. “We’re going to fence the entire perimeter of it for security purposes, just like the other (well) sites,” Sharpe said.

The goal is to have the Mickelson Shores wellsite operational to meet the water system’s peak summer demand in July and August.

“The contractor’s telling us (the project’s going to take) 60 days,” Sharpe said. “If we get a contract in place and (are) fortunate enough to get going by say the middle of April, then he should have it done by the middle of June.”

Only two bids were received for the wellsite project. The other was a $1.076 million bid from Midwest Power Systems.

Water from Mickelson Shores is pumped to the treatment plant on Dunlap Rd., next door to the township hall, where iron and arsenic are removed before it flows to users.