On October 8, 2015

Voters back new water system

Spoons for hunger: Governor Shumlin and volunteers and staff of the Vermont Foodbank planted 15,300 orange spoons at the Statehouse Wednesday, Sept. 30. Each spoon represented 10 Vermonters who visit a food bank in a year, a total of 153,000 people.

By Stephen Seitz

CHESTER—It took three tries, but Chester voters decided they would back a $4 million plan to improve the town’s water system. The 280-121 vote took place Sept. 29.

Town Manager David Pisha said the town’s water system is so old, no one can remember when it was originally constructed. “The last major work done in it was back in the 1970s,” he said. “I don’t know when it was first constructed.”

Chester isn’t alone; a number of communities in Vermont have water systems going back at least 100 years, and some even longer. Various media have reported that Rutland’s system was originally constructed in the Buchanan administration, and city public works director Jeff Wennberg has said it would cost $1 million a year for 100 years to fully upgrade the city’s water infrastructure.

The money for the Chester project will be used to construct a 330,000-gallon storage tank and replace some water mains lined with asbestos. The new tank will be sited on a 139-acre lot near Green Mountain Union High School, which the town will purchase from M&M Excavating. The parcel was the site of a proposed controversial gravel pit about ten years ago.

“The tank will improve water pressure and provide a backup should something go wrong with the main system,” Pisha said. “It will also account for a lot of lost water. Right now, more than one in three gallons is lost.”

The town’s main water system uses a 1-million gallon tank on Reservoir Road.

Financing will come from a $3.7 million loan from the Vermont Drinking Water State revolving fund, with the remainder to come from the Vermont Municipal Bank.

“We expect most of the construction to take place during the summer,” Pisha said. “It shouldn’t disrupt operations at the high school. It will improve water pressure in the school’s fire hydrants.”

The voters first approved the water project back in May; however, the vote had not been properly warned, and so a second vote had to be held on June 30 for the voters to reaffirm their support. That day, only 143 people showed up to vote, and they defeated the project by five votes: 74 to 69.

Pisha credited a well-informed public for the successful vote this time around.

“We had a good turnout,” he said. “We distributed a brochure with the facts to the voters, and this time more than 400 people showed up. The word got out.”

The water system is not the only project in Chester requiring voter consideration. The town has owned a parcel of land on Route 11 near the Sunoco station for quite some time. It’s intended to be the future home of a public safety building, which would combine police, fire and rescue. Thus far, the voters have not seen fit to back that project.

But “that’s a whole different item,” Pisha said.

Do you want to submit feedback to the editor?

Send Us An Email!

Related Posts

Subaru WinterFest returns for a weekend of music, gear demos, and winter fun

January 29, 2025
Jan. 31 - Feb. 2 — KILLINGTON — Subaru WinterFest is back, bringing an action-packed weekend of live music, outdoor adventure, and winter lifestyle experiences to Killington Resort. Running from Friday through Sunday, this free event invites skiers, snowboarders, music fans, and adventure enthusiasts to celebrate their love for winter with gear demos, live performances,…

Pieciak announces plan to eliminate $100m in medical debt

January 29, 2025
 Last Tuesday, Jan. 21, Treasurer Mike Pieciak, Senator Ginny Lyons, and Representative Alyssa Black announced a proposal to provide medical debt relief to thousands of Vermonters. The proposal would eliminate up to $100 million in medical debt for a one-time investment of $1 million. Further, the proposal would protect Vermonters’ credit scores by eliminating the…

Jerry LeBlond: From engineer to skier, photographer

January 29, 2025
By Karen D. Lorentz What started out as a fun winter sport on a school trip and a hobby — perhaps inspired by his artistic mother — led to a new vocation and lifestyle for Jerry LeBlond. Born in 1946 and raised in Biddeford, Maine, a coastal French speaking community, until the  6th grade when…

‘I had to shut down’: Student who endured persistent racism at Woodstock school wins settlement

January 29, 2025
By Auditi Guha/VTDigger He was called the N-word. His head was compared to a chimpanzee’s skull. A banana was waved at him with comments about him looking like he needed it. His arm was drawn on with a dark marker with remarks about how it could not be seen on his skin. Comments and memes…