Heather Koontz
Another water leak led to outages in downtown Montpelier on Feb. 18 — this time in the middle of the city’s second annual Restaurant Week.
The incident occurred between 65 State Street and 107 State Street, leaving several businesses in the area without running water in the middle of the day.
What should have been a limited incident turned into a significantly larger disruption due to complications with the repair, according to Department of Public Works (DPW) Deputy Director Zach Blodgett. “A service line was impacted and when we went to repair it, there were additional issues with the valves that rendered them inoperable,” he said.
Blodgett stated that the water was mostly restored that same evening and all valves were operational the next day. However, the outage did have an impact on nearby businesses during a week aimed at increasing foot traffic.
Business Disruptions During Boosted Tourism
Hosted by Montpelier Alive, Restaurant Week was created to support and celebrate the capital city’s rich culinary scene. Throughout the week-long event, participating restaurants offer special menu items and deals for customers looking to complete their Restaurant Challenge Card for a chance to win prizes.
Katie Trautz, executive director of Montpelier Alive, said she has been informed of various leaks and water shut offs around town over the past few weeks. “I have heard from businesses that these water repairs and interruptions have been extremely disruptive to business, especially during Restaurant Week when their establishments have been full and they have been forced to close mid-meal,” Trautz said.
Restaurant Week was designed to overlap with school breaks in neighboring states, during which Vermont typically sees an uptick in tourism. Despite the interruptions, Trautz said the event has received a positive response from the restaurant community.
“This is the second annual event, and we have had more participation and enthusiasm from both the businesses and community than last year,” she said. “It’s a great way to celebrate our amazing culinary scene here in Montpelier!”
Signs of a Larger Problem
A busy tourism week aside, this week’s incident is one of many water line breaks plaguing the city in recent years. Earlier this month, a broken water main at the corner of Main and Barre streets resulted in the emergency replacement of pipe that was more than 120 years old. Blodgett said DPW has plans in place to address aging infrastructure like this.
“There are things we are required to do via permit regulations, and we’ve determined which lines will be done and when based on the size and current leaks,” Blodgett said. “The state approved our permit request and there are other [projects] that were not on the permit.”
These projects include the major reconstruction of East State Street, completion of which is expected to take two years and will begin this summer.
Additionally, DPW is looking to delegate a $1.7 million grant for water main replacement projects and has begun exploring technology improvements that could make future repairs more efficient and economical.
“Traditional open-cut methods for water replacement projects are time consuming and hard for communities. We’ve been looking at things like trenchless technology,” Blodgett said. “We can get a lot more done with the same amount of money.”
When it comes to selecting which streets should receive any of these new repair methods, Blodgett said the department aims to be cautious in their decision-making. “We want to make sure we’re successful because this is something we feel could be a huge benefit to this community and can get us where we need to be,” he said.
The DPW staff is also looking at the development of a water valve tracking tool that can log positions of valves in real-time, allowing the city to inform the community about outages, track repairs, and prioritize fixes faster.
Montpelier residents will have a say in the status of some of these repairs on Town Meeting Day, when an $8 million bond will be up for a vote. In addition to funding the replacement of some city water and sewer pipes, the bond would accelerate repair of the city’s aging pipes. Blodgett said $4.6 million of the bond’s total would go to system improvements on lower State and Barre streets.
Town Meeting Day is Tuesday, March 3.
