AMHERST — Repair of a broken water pipe to Elsie Fetterman’s home last spring left her with a bill of nearly $20,000 when the work was complete.
For Fetterman, 94, the $18,800 invoice she received from her contractor for fixing the pipe that runs from the town’s water main and under the street to her residence is the kind of bill that puts senior citizens like herself, and others on fixed incomes, at risk of losing their homes.
“Never would I ever believe that I would be expected to be responsible for repairing the street because of a break in the water main,” Fetterman told the Town Council this week.
Her appeal to councilors to look into her situation comes as the Town Council is examining existing water and sewer use regulations, and could be updating and amending these policies in the spring.
Town Manager Paul Bockelman said the use regulations, based on rules that have been written down and 50 years of practice and custom, were recently drafted into a comprehensive document by Department of Public Works Superintendent Guilford Mooring and Assistant DPW Superintendent Amy Rusiecki.
“We’re trying to formalize these documents,” Bockelman said.
Councilors are beginning a process to review the existing policies, while also adopting a general bylaw associated with them.
Rusiecki said that in the early 1970s town officials adopted water use and sewer use regulations and construction standards, and have enacted various policies since that time. Even so, Rusiecki said nobody has been able to get their hand on copies of the original regulations, and many of the revisions over the years are scattered and not held in a single place.
“Really, this is an attempt to put everything together, document it and create one organized location where we have all the rules and expectations out there for what the town of Amherst is responsible for, and what the users are responsible for,” Rusiecki said.
In a memo from Bockelman, Mooring and Rusiecki, they cite the need to be transparent and consolidate past practices and policies into a coherent document: “Written water use regulations have existed, but a written copy cannot be located. We know they have not been updated since at least the 1970s.”
If approved by the Town Council, the use regulations will spell out topics related to water pipes, meters, backflow prevention, hydrants and lawn irrigation systems. Having a single document will be easier for the councilors to review and revise in the future.
In discussing the topic, councilors put some of the focus on the penalties for violations of the water regulations, and how users are required to make sure that leaks are quickly identified. Rusiecki said that if leaks are allowed to continue, and their source is not identified, the town can be penalized by the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Mooring said the town has taken a more proactive approach to having a leak-proof system. “That’s something we’re pushing really hard,” he said.
The regulations state that within seven days of a leak beginning, a resident needs to notify the water department. “The goal is to get people talking to us and moving toward repair,” Mooring said, explaining that usually these are obvious situations, either inside or outside a home.
As for Fetterman, she is asking that councilors consider adding new policies that would have the town cover the costs of repairing pipes from the water mains to homes. She said this change could be retroactive to May 2021, so her bill would be reimbursed.
Homeowners have long been responsible for service from the mains to their houses, Mooring said. That regulation states, “Installation of a water service pipe and any necessary repairs to the right of way shall be at the owner’s expense. The owner is responsible for hiring a qualified contractor for this work.”
Northampton used to have the same policy, Mooring said, until a vocal resident forced a change by the City Council. “It’s all based on what a community wants to have as its rule,” Mooring said.
The consequences of such a change in Amherst would be putting more of the burden on the town, and these added expenses could mean higher water rates for all users.
Mooring also observed that Fetterman’s situation is not unique, with at least 25 other owners he is aware of who have had to pay for similar repairs.