A $2.84 million bond proposal on the Jaffrey town warrant this year aims to replace over 13,000 linear feet of water mains in town.
This bond, if passed by a two-thirds ballot at Town Meeting in March, would represent the second phase of a plan to address over 45,000 feet of water mains identified to be replaced due to their age, proximity to high-usage customers, and/or the ability to get pressurized water out of fire hydrants.
“We are trying to avoid catastrophic failures that would cost even more money,” Town Manager Jon Frederick said, in an interview Wednesday. “We’d rather be taking care of these issues as a part of planned maintenance rather than on an emergency basis. It’s kind of like what you would do with your house, you don’t wait until an issue comes up.”
Water mains scheduled to be replaced are on School Street, Stratton Road, and Squantum Road. Pipes at Aetna Street, Wheeler Street, and Lawrence Street may also be replaced.
“Water main replacement is a neverending thing,” DPW Director Randy Heglin said Wednesday. “We have one road where the pipes were installed in the 1960s, and we have had a number of breaks. That road did not make the asset management study.”
In 2013, the town’s water department received a grant from the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services to complete a water system asset management study, which analyzed the town’s water pipes to create a prioritized replacement schedule.
Heglin estimated Wednesday that the town has about 15 miles of water mains in town.
Voters in 2016 approved for town officials to seek a bond of up to $2.8 million to pay for the replacement of over 12,000 linear feet of water mains on Main Street and Stratton Road, which was completed in 2017.
Frederick said the town was issued a 20-year, $2.63 million bond in 2017 for the project, which represented phase one. The bond is eligible for debt forgiveness, Frederick said.
Since the beginning of 2018, the town has responded to 11 water main breaks and service repairs – four of which have occurred in 2019.
The cost of repairs – which includes labor, equipment, and materials – from the beginning of 2018 to now has been $37,705.22, Heglin said.
Heglin said pipes are designed to last 100 years, but factors including the quality of water inside the pipe and soil outside the pipe, and how deep the frost goes can ess the life expectancy of the pipe.
Pipes that were installed before the 1930s also experience additional issues because they are not cement-lined, meaning sediment can build up. The build-up can reduce water flow and pressure and create water quality issues, Heglin said.
Many of the pipes scheduled to be replaced are from the 1920s and earlier, Helgin said there will still be pipes in town older than 100 years old after phase two is complete.
If passed, the bond would be paid two-thirds by water user fees and one-third by taxation.
Frederick said he does not anticipate that water user fees would have to go up to accommodate the bond.
Nicholas Handy can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 235 or nhandy@ledgertranscript.com.