Peterborough had its highest water usage last month since any “in recent memory,” according to Town Administrator Rodney Bartlett.
Peterborough’s municipal water system pumped about 25 percent more water this July, he said.
Barlett’s comments were made during Tuesday’s Select Board meeting, during which town leaders were given updates on a handful of ongoing issues.
The board supported the mandatory water ban, which was first imposed by the administrator and began on Aug. 2. He said over 100 towns in New Hampshire have instituted voluntary or mandatory bans this season.
Board member Tyler Ward was concerned about awareness, and the town will use traffic signs and social media to inform residents of the ban.
Among the specifics of the ban is that farms and businesses that grow vegetables for consumption are exempt. Otherwise, residents can tend to vegetable gardens with drop lines or watering cans, which are considered low flow devices.
Well users are not subject to the ban, but “clearly they have to be careful what affect they have on their aquifer and their area,” Bartlett said.
Select Board Chair Ed Juengst spoke about the upcoming school year, the ConVal District’s first with its new superintendent and first since a petition by Peterborough residents, and supported by the Select Board, requesting the town leave the district.
“That petition failed,” Juengst said. “But it accomplished what I think we wanted in that it got the attention of the school board.”
Juengst, the liaison between the boards, met privately with new superintendent Kimberly Saunders in what he called “a very good meeting.”
“We agreed to work together as we navigate these initiatives as we move ahead,” he said. “She is looking forward to meeting with our board in the near future,” he wrote in his statement.
The board agreed to request an independent financial analysis to judge the equity of the burdens the district places on each of its nine member towns. The analysis will be to determine if equity and fairness exists in the current funding formula.
A second analysis will judge whether students are receiving equal qualities of education across the district’s elementary and middle schools. According to Juengst’s statement, “Both are necessary.”
A possible future development for the district is reconfiguring school assignments by closing or joining schools. Juengst said the independent analysis should consider possible reconfigurations and requested a proposal on how the district can work more efficiently.
He hopes for a way to improve equity of education between the towns and reduce the tax burden.
He last spoke before the school board on July 13. The next time will be speak will be at the strategic plan meeting on Aug. 11.
He wants there to be more communication between the school district and its member towns.
Also at the meeting, the board held its second mandatory public hearing on the sale of seven acres of town-owned land at 67 Condy Road.