Water Leaks May Lead To Shutoffs

Homeowners who don’t repair un­derground leaks at their property could find their water shut off, the town officials say.

Selectmen plan to implement a policy authorizing the town’s Department of Public Works to shut off town water to homeowners who don’t replace under­ground pipes. The town has the authority to shut off town water to customers who don’t pay their water bills. But the town doesn’t have a policy explicitly allowing for wa­ter to be shut off in the case of a property owner who doesn’t fix leaking pipes. So selectmen have scheduled a public hearing for Monday, June 14 to consider a new water shutoff policy. “We have three or four residents since last April that have not responded to any of the letters,” Vito said. “… The last let­ter we sent them did say that the board would entertain a shutoff.” The reason is the town is losing 110 million gallons of water a year to leaks, much of it to underground pipes going from the water main in the street to Norfolk homes. Lost water in town is now about 51 per­cent, town public works director Remo “Butch” Vito told selectmen this week.

“Why is this getting so bad?” Selectman Jim Tomaszewski asked during the board meeting this past Tuesday afternoon. “Nobody’s fixing the leaks. We have 37 leaks,” Vito said. Vito said a few homeowners haven’t fixed leaks since first being notified of them in April 2009.

The town’s Department of Public Works has identi­fied 105 leaks at homes in Norfolk since April 2009. Many of those homeowners have fixed the problem, but some haven’t.

Norfolk officials have determined that a chemical the town added to town water a few years ago likely contributed to pinhole leaks at many homes. But local officials also say the town is not at fault because it used the chemicals in response to an order from the state’s environmental agency to fixother problems with town water, and the process the town used was the industry standard at the time. But as a result some homeowners have encountered unexpected costly repairs. Replacing underground wa­ter pipes can run from $2,000 to $5,000, depending on the lay of the land and how far from the street the home is.

In the fall of 2008 selectmen implemented a pro­gram that allows homeowners to pay off the cost of in­stalling new pipes over several years, with interest.

So while the cost of replacing water pipes is sub­stantial, town officials say they are doing what they can to ease the burden.

“But I think over the years you’ve put together a great program to help these people fixthis thing. I don’t understand why it isn’t working,” Vito said. Bob McGhee, superintendent of the Department of Public Works, said cutting off the water supply under such circumstances is necessary and is a common prac­tice elsewhere. “I know what to do: You shut ‘em off, with fair notice. This is the kindest town I’ve ever seen, that wouldn’t do that,” McGhee said.

During the Board of Selectmen meeting this past Tuesday afternoon, Selectman Jim Lehan initially re­sisted the idea.

“I have a problem with shutting the water off,” Le­han said. But other town officials argued that the town can’t afford to keep losing as much water as it is. “There’s a pipe just flowing water into the ground,” said Town Administrator Jack Hathaway. Lehan’s home is on a private well, not town water. But the other two members of the Board of Selectmen, Rob Garrity and Jim Tomaszewski, are among the ap­proximately 2,200 Norfolk town water customers. Garrity, the board chairman, noted that all water customers pay for water leaks, including Tomaszewski and himself.

“These people are ripping Jim and me off, and any­one who’s on town water,” Garrity said.

Vito said the town is providing electricity and chem­icals to water that just ends up flowing into the ground at a rate of 2 gallons per minute. “You’re spending a lot of money to keep up with these leaks, and allow them to keep going,” Vito said. Selectmen also discussed an idea of charging the homeowners for the lost water by installing a meter at the connection between the water main at the street and the residents’ pipes. But Vito noted that charging for the water wouldn’t satisfy the state’s environmen­tal agency, which is trying to ensure towns like Norfolk don’t use more water than the state allots. Another idea is to simply hire a contractor to replace the pipes and bill the homeowner for the work. “Some communities will go in and fix it, which I have a problem with because it’s private property, and now only to you have to go onto the property you have to go into the dwelling,” Vito said.

Vito said the town’s existing program allowing resi­dents to spread out payments for fixing the leaks is gen­erous and practical. “If you fix it in April, you wouldn’t see a payment on it until October. So there’s nothing out of pocket,” Vito said. By the end of the discussion, all three selectmen seemed to agree that homeowners who haven’t fixed leaks for more than a year need some suasion.

“This is ridiculous,” Tomaszewski said.

“It’s dirt money. There’s no reason not to fix it,” Le­han said. Lehan said he feels bad for people who come upon this unplanned expense, “… but we’ve given everyone an opportunity and a reasonably financially stable way to fixit.”