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Date: 7/13/2022
CHESTER — “One of the things that is great about a small town is when the chips are down, people help each other out,” said Selectmen Chairman John Baldasaro on the evening of July 8. All day, the town had been dealing with a major water main break discovered early that morning which left half of the town without water service.
Baldasaro said the three water commissioners, Tom Bean, Bob Daley and Lyle Snyde, had been on it since 6 a.m. Town Administrator Kathe Warden reported on July 10 that the leak had been fixed and water service restored.
“It was definitely a major break,” Baldasaro said on July 8. He said the clearwell, which stores the water treated at the water treatment plant, had drained completely. Once the problem was discovered and a state of emergency declared, Chester Emergency Management Director Jill Strong got in touch with the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA), which sent local coordinator Scott Flebotte to Chester. MEMA Deputy Director Paul Carnevale was expected the following day.
Also arriving was the Massachusetts Rural Water Association, which spent all day in town using its equipment to find the leak, at no charge to Chester, Baldasaro said.
The association provides free on-site technical assistance to water systems through the Circuit Rider Program funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service. The Circuit Rider Program provides hands-on assistance to water systems including leak detection and pipe location as well as water quality treatment, testing, equipment repair and emergency management.
Meanwhile, Warden purchased 800 cases of bottled water, 24 bottles per case, to distribute to the 225 households that were without water. There are 750 people on town water, a little more than half the town. The other residents have private wells.
The bottled water was delivered to the parking area across from Town Hall, and by evening it was being distributed to residents. Helping were Chip Dazelle, Steve Graydon and Nicholas Perry of the Huntington Fire Department, who brought the town’s emergency management trailer to deliver water to the apartments, to the fire station and to Town Hall for residents to pick up. They planned to leave the trailer in Chester while needed.
Warden was also there, loading water into the trailer. She said Strong had been invaluable in reaching out to MEMA and getting the resources the town needed.
At the fire station, Highway Foreman and Deputy Fire Chief Carl Baldasaro and Captain Nate Bolduc had non-potable water for residents to bring home, to flush toilets and for other uses, which they pumped from the river.
“It’s been an interesting day,” John Baldasaro said.
By 6 p.m. Friday, they were narrowing in on the area of the leak, in the downtown area, and expected to restore service to other parts of town that night. The 18 families in the immediate area of the leak were without water for much of the rest of the weekend. They asked all Chester residents to discard any ice, juice, baby formula or food prepared with town water on or after July 6, and placed a boil order in effect for this week.
In an advisory posted on the town website, residents were told not to drink their water, brush their teeth, make ice, wash dishes or prepare food with town water without boiling it first, as the lack of pressure in the system can cause backflows and result in bacterial contamination. Boiling kills bacteria and viruses in the water. The boil order will remain until lifted by the state Department of Environmental Protection.
“The clear tank drained so low that residents will need to boil their water for drinking, or drink bottled water,” Baldasaro said.
One of the victims of the emergency was the July 8 performance of Chester Theatre’s “Birds of North America,” which was canceled. The play on the Town Hall stage runs through July 17. The theater company expected future dates to be performed as scheduled.
“People don’t like disruption, [but they] have been understanding. We’ve been on it,” Baldasaro said.