Bennington officials say residents will likely have to boil tap water over Labor Day weekend as a result of Irene flooding

By Patrick Donges

Bennington, VT – Bennington officials met Tuesday at 10 a.m. for the latest briefing on storm cleanup and the town's water supply.

The main line connecting the town's municipal water system to a filtration plant in the town of Woodford to the east broke on Sunday under the weight of a bridge on Route 9 just west of Woodford's town offices that collapsed in the storm.

A second break in the line was discovered Monday by officials as they surveyed the damage; Bennington Town Manager Stuart Hurd.

"Apparently the state has located a temporary bridge opportunity and they're going to be working this afternoon and into tomorrow to try to get a temporary bridge. It will be a one lane bridge."

"When that is complete we will then make connections from the east side of the bridge where it went out to where there was a second blowout of the water system, and that will provide the connection to the municipal system downtown."

The town has also arranged for a pump to be brought in the case the filtration plant has problems with intake. Hurd said the line is slated to be repaired by Thursday or Friday, but that simply having the connection back wouldn't solve the problem.

"The water obviously will be treated as it comes through the plant, but we won't have the time to test the chlorine residuals throughout the system."

"The big issue now is; do we turn the water on before we receive approval from the health department that it's potable and put a boil water order in place, or do we attempt to test it and do that overnight?"

Hurd said while officials would be working to avoid issuing a boil water advisory over the Labor Day weekend, there was a 70 percent chance that it would be necessary.

Only about 17 homes were completely without water as a result of the storm; Hurd said the town would make efforts to deliver a case of bottled water to each of those homes Tuesday afternoon. Officials warned residents and businesses to limit water use throughout the week; here's Hurd.

"Don't do laundry, don't wash your car. If you can flush your toilet on alternate uses, that's great. We've also contacted most of our high water users, we're asking them to either reduce their use, or in some cases we're asking people to close their businesses."

Susan Fox, executive director of the Bennington County Meals on Wheels program, said the water shortage could have the greatest effect on her clients, some of the county's most vulnerable populations.

"My main concern is to maintain an adequate level of sanitation for people in terms of water. Sometimes the people that are older don't realize they're at risk; they may not realize there's a water shortage."

Fox said the weakened immune systems of some older residents coupled with a deficit of timely and accurate information on sanitation issues dealing with water and food refrigeration could lead to potentially tragic consequences. Hurd said the town was doing everything they could to disseminate information on the shortages from their website and the police department's Facebook page.

Residents in their cars began lining up shortly before 1 p.m. at the town's fire department on River Street to receive one of 1500 cases of bottled water donated by WalMart. Local water company Vermont Pure, which draws from the Morgan Spring, also reportedly has tankers on standby in case of severe shortages.

Charlie Bargamian was one of those residents waiting to pick up a case, as a contingency he said in case of a crisis in the coming days. He compared the impact of Irene on the northeast, with some areas practically unaffected while others suffered severe flooding, to another major disaster that hit the region about a decade ago.

"It wasn't unlike 9/11; you realize that in another area its complete chaos, that life is not how you know it."

Hurd said Bennington police officers will be some of the first people to make their way across the temporary span into Woodford at the end of the week; Woodford's town offices including their police station were washed away completely by floods on Sunday.