EPHRATA - The three monitoring wells at the Grant County Fairgrounds are likely to cost $36,329.

Gregory Drilling, a Redmond-based company, submitted the lowest bid to build the three monitoring wells called for in a plan to see if the septic systems at the fairgrounds affect groundwater.

The county received four bids to drill the wells, according to county records. The highest bid was $42,441.

The state-approved plan to monitor and permit the large on-site septic systems at the fairgrounds calls for three wells. One will be placed "upstream" while two are planned for "downstream" of one of the most used septic systems, according to the plan.

"The bids came in right about where we thought they would," Fairgrounds Manager Jerry Gingrich said.

The county sent the contract for the work to the company, and expects to have it back soon, he said. He is hoping the company can start drilling within two weeks.

"We wanted to have them in place and start testing prior to the fair," Gingrich said. "With the large number of people attending the fair, hopefully we will show that we're not contaminating the groundwater."

GSI Water Solutions, the company the county hired to develop the testing plan, will provide training to fairgrounds staff to take the samples, Gingrich said.

The samples will be sent to a laboratory to test for nitrogen, nitrate, ammonia and orthophosphate, according to the plan. The plan calls for testing for about two years, with the bulk of tests following the 2012 Grant County Fair.

Gingrich hopes the testing won't need to go on as long as called for in the plan, he said.

The money for the wells is coming from the fairgrounds' budget, Gingrich said. The project wasn't originally part of the budget, but the manager wants to cut costs enough to absorb the cost of the wells.