Water line break leaves downtown New Hampton dry

By THOMAS P. CALDWELL, LACONIA DAILY SUN

NEW HAMPTON — A break in the water line over the weekend drained the Village Water Precinct’s 135,000-gallon storage tank and left homes dry while workers scrambled to get the system back up and running. They were hoping to have the water fully restored by early evening yesterday (Monday).

Water Commissioner Robert Barry said the break was detected around 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, when homes served by the precinct along Main Street found themselves without running water.

“It probably occurred in the middle of the night,” Barry said.

The precinct serves about 130 customers in downtown New Hampton, including New Hampton School, which has both day and boarding students. Director of Communications Laura Dougherty said they were able to hold a normal day of classes yesterday, despite the lack of water.

“Thanks to the generosity of Holderness and Newfound schools, and some of our day student families, our students were able to shower and get ready for classes,” she said. “Our dining hall staff and facilities teams are taking care of all of us, and our students continue to impress us with their good spirits and cooperation.”

Barry noted that the New Hampton Community School, an elementary school within the Newfound Area School District, was on vacation, so the break had no impact there.

He said that locating the source of the problem was difficult because of snow on the ground and the fact that all of the mains were empty, leaving no flowing water to indicate where the leak might be.

The precinct called in a leak detection expert on Sunday to help them find the source of the problem, and by 11 p.m., they thought they had isolated the problem area.

“When we started digging at the location, it turned out to be a dry hole,” Barry said.

However, about 150 feet south of that location on Route 132, they did find the problem: A cast iron pipe that had been placed over a box culvert when Dickerman Pond Dam was built to accommodate the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department’s hatchery had ruptured. Barry said the half-inch pipe had only marginal corrosion inside and outside, but he speculated that the soil around the pipe did not provide enough cushion to handle the pressure.

“It could cause the pipe to crack or break, and castings have some fragility to them,” he said.

He said that, although the water system was put in place in 1913, the soil conditions overall are good, so the pipes were never exposed to water cycles that could lead to damage, and this was the first significant problem they have seen.

The crew cut out a section of the pipe and was ready to splice in a new section yesterday afternoon, leading Barry to be hopeful that all customers would have water restored by early evening.

Once they knew where the problem area was, they were able to restore water to a section of town while keeping the lines shut off in the area needing work, he noted. About 1,500 feet of the line, serving 18 houses, was functioning.

Barry noted that, even after the water is restored, residents will be urged to boil their water for a couple of days until the town can send water samples to Concord for testing to ensure there has been no bacterial infiltration. The test results should be back within a day, he said.

The town has been providing updates about the water issue on its website, and Town Administrator Barbara Lucas said Precinct Manager Joel Powers has been keeping the town office updated on his progress. The office also is served by the water precinct.

Jeremy Hiltz Excavating of Ashland has been providing the heavy equipment needed to get to the water system, Lucas noted.