Jaffrey is facing a problem similar to that of many small communities in the country – an aging water and sewer infrastructure that will be highly expensive to replace.

When, during a routine camera inspection of the sewer main on Stratton Road, the town discovered the line was failing, it didn’t have the resources on hand to address the issue. However, the town has been able to replace that line – with funds granted to the town through the American Rescue Plan Act.

“Every community in the U.S. is dealing with the issue of aging infrastructure right now. Water and sewer systems were installed over 100 years ago and that is roughly the lifespan of these systems,” explained Jaffrey Superintendent of Utilities Tony Cavaliere.

The town has a 10-year capital improvement plan, which is updated yearly, to address infrastructure, but Cavaliere said when a camera probe was inspecting the line on Stratton Road, it discovered problems that the town hadn’t prepared for in that plan. It showed that the line was failing to the point that rehabilitation was not an option. The clay lines had to be replaced, Cavaliere said.

The project was sitting on the books for the town while it sought a funding solution, seeking grants or other ways to get the work done. While the town does set aside funds in its operations and maintenance budget yearly for sewer line rehabilitation, such an expansive project was outside of the scope of that budget, Cavaliere said.

“The sewer on Stratton Road was not originally scheduled to be replaced, and that is why funding was critical. The project was delayed until funding was found,” he said. “At the time, the Stratton Road sewer project could not have happened.”

Jaffrey received multiple sources of ARPA grants – about $552,447 from the U.S. Treasury, $66,890 from the county and about $390,000 from the Department of Environmental Services Clean Water Fund.

About $452,000 has been spent on the Stratton Road project, with the remainder expected to go toward sewer lining and another unanticipated utilities expense – constructing a per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) treatment facility for the town’s well on Turnpike Road. PFAS are widely used chemicals in consumer and industrial products that are slow to break down, and have been found to be present in water, air and soil across the globe. They have been linked to impacts on reproduction, thyroid function, liver function and the immune system in animal studies.

The town shut down one of its two Turnpike wells in April 2021, after some tests showed PFAS spikes that were above new, recently tightened levels allowed by the state’s drinking water standards.

Cavaliere said some of the ARPA funding will be put toward the building of a treatment facility for the Turnpike well – a much-more expensive project that has received multiple sources of grant funding in addition to the ARPA grants.

“As far as the PFAS project goes, without the large amount of ARPA funding we have received for this project, rate-payers would have seen increased water rates coupled with a project that would have taken much longer to complete and obtain funding,” Cavaliere said.

Moving forward, the town is working to find better ways to plan for emergency projects, which are often highly expensive.

Cavaliere said the town has worked to start increasing the sewer fund to help offset emergency expenses, and revamping its capital improvement plan on a yearly basis. Cavaliere said he tries to plan at least 20 years out for funding the infrastructure the town will need in the future, at least a decade beyond the town’s 10-year capital planning.

Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172, Ext. 244, or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on X @AshleySaariMLT.