Wolfeboro town leaders cap pipe under town docks after complaints

WOLFEBORO — The town has again capped a drain pipe beneath the public docks on Lake Winnipesaukee.

At their Jan. 7 meeting, Selectman John Thurston and part-time resident Derrick Brown complained about a sewer smell at the town docks that they attributed to a pipe discharging “fluid” into Lake Winnipesaukee.

Selectmen discussed the pipe again Wednesday and decided it should be capped. In a phone interview Thursday morning, Town Manager Jim Pineo said the work has been completed.

“The pipe has been capped already with a spigot so that staff can open the spigot and collect water for testing,” Pineo said.

Town officials believe the pipe collects rainwater from the roof of a nearby building. Between the buildings and the lake is a strip of unpaved land where a “wet spot” has been observed, which Pineo said may indicate a break in the pipe. He said the town believes that if the pipe remains capped, the water will not advance much past that location.

Thurston addressed the issue at Wednesday’s meeting and said the water was tested by Eurofins Environmental Testing Northeast LLC.

“The most important result: coliform fecal matter greater than 2,400 MPN per 100 milliliters,” Thurston said, adding that those results are consistent with what would be expected at a wastewater treatment plant.

Theories about the elevated coliform levels include the possibility of a broken sewer pipe nearby allowing wastewater to enter the drain pipe, or that bird or rodent waste is mixing with rainwater.

Chair David Senecal said the town inspected piping at a nearby building and found it to be properly installed. He said the pipe discharging into the lake is intended for rainwater. Senecal added that the “wet spot” appeared after the pipe was capped in November. He said the water from the pipe will be tested monthly and the pipe will be excavated in the spring.

At the meeting, Brown suggested the pipe may be connected to a sump pump, noting that he has seen water gush from the pipe as if it is under pressure.

“Where we are now is we have an uncapped 4-inch pipe, which now just has a trickle, with no explanation of the gushing water that was coming from it that tested so high for coliform/E. coli,” Brown said.

Selectman Paul O’Brien urged the board to quickly determine the source of the contamination.

“My selfish interest on this is clear. We’re going to go wherever we need to go, with permission of course,” O’Brien said. “We’re gonna find out where this s*** is coming from — and pardon me for using the word — but we’ve got to find out where it’s coming from.”

Selectman Brian Deshaies and Pineo told The Conway Sun that the water in the pipe will be tested to determine if the fluid has human sewerage or animal waste.

Pineo said there would only be species testing done if levels of contamination remain elevated.

Deshaies said with owner permission, the DPW has added dye to the plumbing of two nearby buildings to determine if pipe is somehow connected to them.

Selectmen will tour those basements next week with the health inspector.

In other Wolfeboro news, Pineo told The Conway Sun that he expects public hearings on the Libby Museum to be held in April or May following the March annual town meeting.

Wolfeboro selectmen voted earlier in January to hold public hearings on the Libby Museum of Natural History, which closed in 2024 due to mold and structural deterioration. Pineo said the hearings are not simply about tearing down the museum but about what should be done with the collection inside and the property in general.

“Let me emphasize this: There is absolutely no public hearing scheduled at this time to raze the Libby Museum,” he said.