New water lines should be in place and operating at four homes in Butler Township and three businesses in Vandalia on Engle Road by the end of this week.

The water lines will be paid for by Delphi, which operates an auto parts plant in the area off Northwoods Blvd. and Interstate 75.

Those water lines take the place of wells, which were becoming contaminated over a long period of time by the work being done at Delphi, which a decade ago had 10,000 workers at this location.

Today, there are nearly 275 employees producing Heating, Venting and Air Conditioning modules at the location.

“They’ve been monitoring the wells on Engle road for years, and it’s never been an issue,” said Vandalia city manager Rob Anderson. “But now, for whatever reason, the (contamination) levels are higher than they want.”

Delphi is paying for the entire project, but a spokesperson did not have a dollar figure available. Based on similar projects, Vandalia officials estimated the cost to be as much as $400,000.

“Delphi has arranged to connect this property as well as others nearby, to the public water supply provided to the city of Vandalia, at no cost to the property owners,” the Delphi spokesperson said. “That decision was made by Delphi as simply the right thing to do.”

To those few on Engle Road, the old well water had a strange color and smell.

“We’ve been here since 2008 and we couldn’t use the water,” said Kathy Ely, practice manager of the Child Adolescent Care Center at 880 Engle Road. “There was something wrong with the taste. We just drank bottled water.”

A few months ago, the city called to inform those affected that water lines would be installed.

“We were thrilled,” Ely said. “We have a well, and didn’t use it.”

Anderson said Delphi approached the city about six months ago, asking to put in water lines. The city agreed. The three businesses – on the east side of the road – are all in Vandalia, and will pay the same water rates as other city residents.

The four homes on the west side of the road are on a sliver of land in Butler Township and will have a 50 percent upcharge for water, which will be about $8.50 a month, depending on usage. Vandalia residents averaged about $101.22 a year for water usage in 2011.