Williamstown Completes $1.2 Million Well ReplacementBy Stephen Dravis, Special to iBerkshires
10:24PM / Tuesday, October 09, 2012 | |
 The Selectmen toast the completion a well-replacement project with water drawn from the town's new well No. 1 at Tuesday's meeting. |
Selectmen David Rempell drinks water from the newly replaced well. |
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — For the first time in several years, the town's water system is running as it is intended.
The Board of Selectmen heard a report on Tuesday night of the completion of a $1.12 million project to replace one of three wells that supply drinking water and public safety in the Village Beautiful.
Public Works Director Timothy Kaiser and Water and Sewer Superintendent Ed Rondeau detailed the project in what Town Manager Peter Fohlin described as a "celebration" of the town's new well No. 1.
"You might think that two wells would be enough for the town, but in our case, that's not safe enough," Fohlin said. "We can't run the town on just one well; that would require serious water usage restrictions. … And if you have two wells, you always run the risk of losing one. ... With three wells, we know we could always have two. Two is plenty, but one is not enough."
Now that the town again has three wells drawing water from an underground aquifer, it has the redundancy the system requires, Rondeau and Kaiser told the board.
Kaiser explained that the process of digging the new well faced some "bumps in the road," including a leak that required four tractor-trailer loads of cement grout to control.
Despite the "leak of the century" adding about $150,000 to the project, the new well still came in on budget, Kaiser said.
Major cost savings were achieved from the town's acquisition of a refurbished 100-kilowatt generator from the federal government for $900. The equipment helped the town realize a $120,000 cost saving from money that had been budgeted to bring power to the construction site. More savings were realized by pulling back labor from the contractor and using town employees, Kaiser said.
Kris Kirby, right, is sworn in as the newest member of Williamstown's Municipal Scholarship Committee. |
The more than $1 million project budget is being funded over 30 years by increases to the town's water rates, Fohlin said, and he also took the opportunity to crow about the quality of the town's drinking water, which is supplied by surrounding mountains that feed the aquifer.
"We may have the best water in the state," Fohlin said as supplied the board members with water bottled from the town's newest well. "It's as good or better than Poland Spring."
- In other business on Tuesday, the board set a public hearing for Monday, Oct. 22 at 7:05 p.m. to hear a request from the Richard Ruether American Legion Post 152 to make a change in its board of directors and an alteration to its premises.
The board also appointed Kris Kirby to a three-year term on the town's Municipal Scholarship Committee and accepted the resignation of Arthur Lafave as an associate member of the town's Zoning Board of Appeals.
Chairman David Rempell reminded all residents viewing the meeting on the town's community access television station, WilliNet, that there are several town boards with vacancies, including the Sign Commission and ZBA.
"We could use folks to step forward," Rempell said. "We can only continue to thrive as a community if people step forward. ... We'd love to have some help."
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