Fix for water main could hit $200,000

It’s expected to cost between $150,000 and $200,000 to repair a broken water main that last week interrupted water service to Riverside Middle School, Springfield Hospital and a local nursing home.

http://www.vermonttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/RH/20101028/NEWS02/710289855 Published October 28, 2010 in the Rutland Herald          Fix for water main could hit $200,000          By Susan Smallheer Staff Writer          SPRINGFIELD — It’s expected to cost between $150,000 and $200,000 to repair a broken water main that last week interrupted water service to Riverside Middle School, Springfield Hospital and a local nursing home.          Town Manager Robert Forguites said the town had preliminary estimates, and the water department did not have funds in its current budget to cover the costs.          Until the water main is replaced, the townwide water pressure increase will be put on hold, he said. Temporary repairs last week restored water service to that section of town, although students at the middle school lost a day of school.          Forguites said the town plans to use unused funds left over from the $6.5 million bond issue passed in 2009 to pay for the water system upgrades that are nearing completion.          Forguites said the town had been able to save between $400,000 and $450,000 of the $6.5 million bond, and that about half of the savings would be used to pay for the water main replacement.          Until the water line is fixed, the water system improvements funded by the bond issue are on hold, he said, including filling the new 1-million-gallon water storage tank built in back of Union Street School.          Forguites said the Springfield Select Board had been briefed on the broken main during the board’s regular meeting Monday night by Joe Duncan of Forcier Aldrich, consulting engineers, and Jeff Strong, the town’s water department superintendent.          “That line is the main line feeding up to the new tank,” said Forguites, who added the town was working with Gurney Brothers Construction of North Springfield to do the late-season repair job.          He said Duncan estimated the repair job would cost between $150,000 and $200,000.          “We’ve gotten some good prices on some of the jobs,” the town manager said, referring to the multiple water improvement projects that have been under way for the past two summers.          He said he didn’t really want to spend the full amount of the bond, but the main, which runs under Route 11 and next to Chester Brook, needed to be replaced.          “We have to get started on it and we will as soon as we make an agreement on it with Gurney Brothers,” Forguites said Wednesday afternoon.          He said it is estimated it will take two weeks to make the repairs. The town also needs at least two state permits, which Forcier Aldrich is working on, he said.          The town has invested $10.5 million in upgrades to the water systems in Springfield in the last eight to 10 years, Forguites said, including the $6.5 million bond in 2009.          http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20101028/NEWS02/710289855