Newport homeowners claim sewer problems

NEWPORT – A half-dozen homeowners from Railroad Street told the Board of Selectmen on Wednesday night that a water main leak last September had undermined their sewer main connections.

Thomas Todd, Newport Water District superintendent, however, said Thursday that he had heard from only one resident and that he could not connect the water leak to the resident’s sewer problems. He said he investigated the issue “and I could not find we were at fault.”

There was plenty of blame assigned Wednesday night when the residents told the selectmen that a September 2006 water main leak went on for six weeks.

“That was 5 gallons a minute for six weeks,” said David Williams, one of the affected homeowners. “That’s 300,000 gallons.”

Williams said the water ran and ran, and by following the water main, saturated the ground so that at least six sewer main connections have dropped and need repair.

“You can see that the whole section of road has settled, and that was newly paved three years ago,” Williams said.

Newport selectmen felt the issue needed some investigation. The Newport Water and Sewer districts are quasi-municipal agencies and separate from town government. They each have their own boards of trustees and operate financially independent of the town.

“There is some urgency here,” Chairman Al Worden said. “It is just getting worse. If it is destroying a town road, we have some responsibility here.”

The selectmen urged Town Manager James Ricker to write to both districts and request information.

“We will impress on them that we’d like the answers quickly,” Worden said.

Todd said Thursday that he had thoroughly investigated Williams’ complaint but had not heard from any other resident on Railroad Street.

“I investigated this on more than one occasion,” he said. “I could not find any evidence that [the Newport Water District] had caused any damage.”

He said that when a public water main breaks, it is considered an act of God and the district is not responsible for damage.

He said that if other residents come forward and provide evidence to the contrary, he will reopen the investigation.

“We need to look at all the facts and be fair to the residents,” he said. “But I also don’t want to be unjust to my customers who would be paying for sewer lines we didn’t break.”