BRANDON, S.D. (KELO.com) -- A fix for Brandon's continuing water quality problems may be to "act like Midwesterners again."
Activist Tim Wakefield says his city should consider hooking up with a rural water provider, such as Minnehaha Community Water Corporation.
"Work with others and come up with a solution by working with your neighbor."
Wakefield is a member of a water committee Brandon set up to help advise city officials on water issues that go back decades, including disturbing levels of radium. The radium does not exceed federal guidelines, but that doesn't make some residents rest any easier.
Wakefield says city officials have made some big mistakes along the way.
"We've got a well that we spent $2 million on, roughly. That well is honestly something we should fill with concrete. It's really high in radioactive material..." The city is not using the well, so Wakefield says Brandon basically wasted $2 million.
The same engineering firm has been dealing with the problem for 30 years. The city is considering other firms. Wakefield says it's time for a change.
"A fresh set of eyes is really the next step. We do have in front of the Council right now what's called an RFP, a request for proposals."
Brandon's water challenges recently received national publicity with a report from CBS News.
A CBS reporter came to town to talk to folks about water quality, as part of a story on radium levels in hundreds of water systems nationwide.
City Administrator Bryan Read told the network that totally removing the radium would be very expensive.
"We are striving to get the lowest radium levels we can at a reasonable cost. You can probably get all the radium out of all the water if you're willing to spend enough money."