COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – Branch County may be joining a tri-state group consisting of the nine counties affected by the Michindoh Aquifer.
The Branch County Board of Commissioners are scheduled during their work session Friday to decide if the request to join the group will be brought forward to their regular meeting Tuesday. The group would be known as the Ohio, Michigan, Indiana Council of Government.
Steuben, Hillsdale, Defiance and Williams Counties signed on in late July.
The primary focus of the group will be to identify the aquifer boundaries through scientific studies for the purpose of future monitoring.
The Michindoe Aquifer, which serves a portion of Branch and Hillsdale Counties, has been a source of controversy for residents in three states over the last few years due to a plan by Artesian of Pioneer, Ohio to drill a production well near Fayette, Ohio.
Artesian has been pursued by several Toledo suburbs to test drill the aquifer to see if it’s possible to sell drinking water to them.
The aquifer covers over two million acres and provides water to about 400,000 people.
Some feel the aquifer has the potential to provide water for the next 40 years to at least eight other communities. But those in opposition fear the drilling will cause wells to dry up and that the water in Aquifer belongs to the public.
Efforts by a citizens group in Williams County to get a charter question on the November ballot that backers say would enhance efforts to environmentally protect the Aquafer have been rejected by the Williams County Board of Elections. That decision is now before the Ohio Supreme Court.
