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Date: 4/17/2023
WARE — The town recently applied for and received a combination grant and loan from the Massachusetts Clean Water Trust for Lead Service Line Planning Program.
The Trust, in collaboration with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, helps communities build or replace water infrastructure that enhances ground and surface water resources, ensures the safety of drinking water, protects public health and develops resilient communities. It accomplishes these objectives by providing low-interest loans and grants to cities, towns and water utilities through the Massachusetts State Revolving Funds, according to a press release put out by the organization.
Town Manager Suart Beckley said the town is working with the firm Tighe and Bond, who will provide them with a subconsultant to start the process of assessing the town’s water service connections.
Beckley said they will be reviewing as many as 2,500 of the water service connections in the public water systems.
The subconsultant will then create a database of all the water connections, and as part of that will be reviewing any that may have lead pipe, Beckley said. Beckley said the survey is primarily focused on residential water service connections, and that older construction homes will be more likely to be assessed.
Beckley said the town will be reaching out to residents that need to have their homes inspected.
“Once they go through and identify any requiring replacement or have lead, survey will be submitted to Department of Environmental Protection, then town would begin of seeking funds to replace the lead lines,” Beckley said.
The project is starting now, Beckley said, with records and analysis of town systems being reviewed between now and June. Individual pipes in residential homes will be reviewed July through November.
The final step in the process is the completion of a replacement plan over the year, that must be
submitted to the DEP by October 2024.
Beckley said this grant/loan combination only includes the cost of reviewing and cataloguing pipes that will need to be replaced, and the town will have to begin searching for funding to replace any pipes that are found to be hazardous.