“LITCHFIELD – The town of Litchfield was the fastest to receive connections to municipal water after Saint-Gobain reported the presence of PFOAs in water near its Merrimack plant. Beginning in October 2016 and by August 2017, 363 Litchfield homes were connected to municipal water. After Saint-Gobain signed a consent decree on March 20, 27 additional homes are set for connections.
Pennichuck Water Works, the firm that provides water for Litchfield, oversees the design and construction of water lines at Litchfield homes and is working closely with Saint-Gobain on their installation.
‘Litchfield is a franchise area for Pennichuck, and the extension of public water falls under our ownership,’ said company CEO Larry Goodhue. ‘Saint-Gobain paid for the extension of public water to many residents that were impacted by the PFOA contamination, they contracted us to do an engineering study to extend water to nearly 400 residents, authorized us to put designs out to contractors and approved the project going forward.’
While work has been completed on the initial 363 homes, water connections for the 27 homes approved via the consent decree haven’t been started yet.
‘We have to complete the design and bid package for contractors who will take on that business, and then Saint-Gobain must approve the bids,’ Goodhue said. ‘We’re working on Bedford now, so the work on Litchfield will begin within the next couple of months.’
Goodhue said eight contractors were involved in the initial water connections in Litchfield.
‘Three did water main installations and five installed service lines, but we may use new contractors for homes after the consent decree, because we must follow the bid process,’ he said.
Litchfield’s town leaders are satisfied with the work that has been done thus far.”
Read the full article by Ken Liebeskind