Montpelier residents put up with an unusually high number of water main breaks, which, in recent years, have led to boil water notices, expensive emergency repairs and school and business closures.
The city’s aging pipe system, some of it nearly a century old, is straining under unusually high water pressure — which in some locations is more than double the state standard. This is due to the system's unusual design, which relies on the force of gravity, rather than pumps, to push water through Montpelier’s downtown and back uphill to the city’s outskirts.
This year, state regulators instructed city officials to take a more robust, system-wide look at how to prevent pipes from bursting, starting with the water pressure. But local officials disagreed with this approach, arguing it was too expensive and ignored what they saw as more feasible solutions. City Manager Bill Fraser, and Kurt Motyka, who leads Montpelier’s Department of Public Works, have argued that the city should focus instead on replacing weak, corroded pipes with more resilient ones that can withstand the pressure.
After a back-and-forth over the city’s water permit, state regulators relaxed their request for a system-wide overhaul. But the question still looms: How will the city address its water infrastructure going forward, and what will it cost to do so?
A plan for what’s left of Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant
Edi Abeneto of Feeding Chittenden on fighting hunger and breaking down cultural barriers
How to raise emotionally intelligent kids
The star-studded history of a small island in Lake Bomoseen
Who is the University of Vermont for?
Synagogue sold — what happens when a historic house of worship becomes something else
‘It dominates anxiety’ — unpacking the process and impact of health insurance premium hikes
How flooding affects Vermont’s wildlife and ecosystems
‘I was in shock.’ — Reporters on the impact of Vermont’s catastrophic flooding
The fraught politics of Vermont’s motel housing program
A spate of deaths focuses attention on Vermont prisons and the Department of Corrections
A VTDigger reporter’s guide to the Statehouse
Deep in the forest, a patch of common ground
What’s happened at Vermont sheriffs’ departments
To go big, or go bigger, on child care
Noah Kahan on ‘existing in a place that you've just written about’
Leveling the funding field for small towns
What 97 acres means to Williston
What keeps Vermonters together across a widening income divide?
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Before Your Time