Mystery Leak in Town Water Found, But Major Work Needed on Town Water System
By Staff Reporter
Hinesburg has been losing water – about 7,000 gallons a day – but while the leak has finally been found – and was being repaired at press time – the town’s water system has some other issues.
Town officials and outside experts say the town’s main water table has been dropping at a precipitous rate and the water coming up from the town’s main well – Well #4 – has developed sediment that requires sometimes having to replace the filters daily – something that had been done once a year.
Solutions are in the works. And, as always, it will cost money and some inconvenience, though the town is working to mitigate the impact.
First, the leak. Or, rather, leaks at Sunset Lake mobile home park, a resident-owned co-op off the Richmond Road with 55 homes. In early March, a leak was discovered and water was shut off for a week to the entire park. By mid-March, water was back on, boil water order was off, and things were back to normal. But the park continued to have a loss of water and in the second week of April, that leak was finally found. Water to four homes was cut off while excavators went in and made the repairs.
The problems at the main well – Well #4 as it is called – are proving more complex.
At a meeting of the selectboard on April 2, water officials and Rob Frost of Vermont Well and Pump said that the water table at Well #4 is lowering and, further, there is much more sediment in the water requiring the department to change filters often – sometimes daily – when normally a filter would last a whole year.
Since the meeting, steps have been taken. State water officials and hydrogeologist Craig Heindel have examined the well system to determine whether the sediment was coming from the aquifer or the well’s pipe.
Heindel confirmed the water table has been steadily declining over the last couple years. There are not a lot of monitor wells to properly access the situation, he told The Record.
Town Manager Todd Odit told The Record that state water experts also came in and looked over the well and determined the sediment was coming not from the aquifer but from corrosion in the well pipe. Odit said one possibility was that the power cord to the pump was rubbing up against the pipe wall and was speeding up the corrosion.
One solution, Heindel said, would be to insert “a smaller diameter sleeve made of non-corrodible material.” He, like others, also suggested it “is prudent for the Town to bring Well #6 online.”
Well #6 was drilled, tested and permitted in 2019 by the developers of Haystack Crossing and once the capacity of the new well was proven, Haystack donated the well and easements to the town in return for a guarantee of some water capacity and assurances that the Town would bring the well online.
However, to get it online the well needs a high-capacity electric line, a pump and the transmission pipe to carry the water to the town water facility, approximately 600 feet away. Odit estimates the line itself will cost $1 million, though “with the tariffs” the pipe may end up being more expensive. He said he is also working on an overall estimate for the pump and special electric line that has to be installed for the pump and will include it all in a planned multi-project bond issue for $2-$3 million for a town vote in the summer.
Odit said, however, that work would begin immediately on repairing the problems on Well #4. At press time, he was anticipating doing the work over April school break – since the school is a major user of water. The exact scope of the work had not been decided, but may include a new inner sleeve on the drop pipe and a new pump.
As to the lowering of the water table, Odit noted that reducing the hours the pump has been working has resulted in a rise in the water level – a good sign.
But Odit said that while repair work will be done quickly and users will be appraised of the situation and it is vital for Well #6 to be brought online and, he said, exploration for an additional well and additional treatment capacity at the water plant will be necessary.
He explained that Well #6 will actually not add to the overall water capacity needed for the town and for future development since the water treatment plant is already treating the maximum amount of water that it can handle. Treatment capacity – or an additional “treatment train” needs to be installed.
“Another treatment train to process the water with the installation of Well #6 was the plan,” Odit said. “More well capacity at this time doesn’t equate to greater capacity without treatment plant upgrades as well.”
If nothing else, Well #6 will give the water system a backup for emergencies. Well #4 has been the lone well for some time. Well #5, which is nearby to #4, was intended for emergencies like this but it shares the same aquifer as Well #4, and has other sediment problems that can’t be repaired, Odit said.
The town’s original wells (#1, #2, #3) were closer to Town Hall and were contaminated by chemicals leaching from the old underground gas tanks that used to be in front of Lantman’s. They have been capped.
Odit is also suggesting hiring a part-time director to focus solely on the water issue. Getting Well #6 online is a major project, he said, and bypassing State bureaucracy required for small grants and self-funding will get the job done faster.
“Haystack could be farther along before we are ready with the well,” he said. “We will look at a bond or 10-year note to fund the rest of the project and get it done.”
The FY26 Water and Wastewater budget, he said, is in limbo until the Town can know for sure the timeline and costs of repairing Well #4, bringing Well #6 online and expanding the water treatment capability as well as the extent of new housing and commercial units that will be added in the coming year.
Hinesburg’s wastewater treatment plant, meanwhile, is a $20 million project that will have about $13 million in subsidies and grants. Loan payments will begin two years after completion of the project which is expected this fall.
Odit said there are currently 876 “units” on town water ranging from single family homes and small apartment houses to businesses, schools and mobile home parks.