Water system’s upgrades progressing $400,000 grant fueling Winter Harbor’s connection replacement project

WINTER HARBOR – The most recent set of upgrades to the town’s water system may be near completion.

Shirley Chase, one of the water district’s three trustees, said Thursday that replacement of connections along the water grid should be completed by the end of the month.

Crews already have completed the work from the corner of Newman and State streets west to the end of Harbor Road.

The remaining work, Chase said, will be done along the eastern side of the intersection of the two streets to the Schoodic Loop Road. That work should be completed in the next few weeks, Chase said – so long as weather doesn’t hamper the efforts.

“It’s coming along well,” Chase said. “I’m very happy we’ve been doing as well as we have.”

Next spring, work crews will perform some finishing work on the project, reseeding lawns and ditches torn up for the replacement of connectors.

The water district distributes water to roughly 240 households and is supplied by two recently drilled wells on Newman Street. But the water grid is largely composed of 100-year-old pipes.

The water district was claimed through a condemnation process a few years ago, and since then the town has worked to improve the system as grant money becomes available.

The current project is funded through a $400,000 grant from the state Department of Economic and Community Development. With the addition of a partially forgiven interest-free loan from the Maine drinking water program to cover the municipal match portion of the grant, the town water district will make annual payments of $666 per year for the next 30 years.

The upgrades to the water system have resulted in two boil-water orders in recent months when older pipes were unsettled. In both cases, the water tested free of any contamination.

Chase said the trustees would like to do more work to improve the water system, but they are dependent on future grants to make the necessary improvements to buildings and laterals in the grid. Among the more pressing concerns, Chase said, is to sandblast and repair the district’s standpipe.