Lower Bartlett Water Precinct fights for federal grant

By Dena Libner

To make sure a water precinct application for funding is competitive, Bartlett selectmen plan to draft a letter urging U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development to give the local project priority. And what makes local projects more competitive than others in the state? The possibility of a multi-municipality interconnect in as little as five years. Lower Bartlett Water Precinct voters approved an $11 million bond in 2005 to fund a few significant projects. The precinct is about to tackle one portion of the total project: laying distribution pipes along Route 302 to Cow Hill and down West Side Road to Saco Ridge. Those pipes will lay across two different Bartlett bridges. One is on Route 302 near Joseph's Spaghetti Shed, and the other is the Railroad Bridge. The state considers both to be in terrible condition.For that reason, New Hampshire Department of Transportation plans to put a project to rebuild both bridges out to bid this September.The precinct hopes that it can put its project out to bid with the Department of Tranportation to avoid tearing up the bridges a second time. Problem is, the only way the precinct can have the funding necessary to put its project out to bid this fall is if it receives the necessary federal funding. Federal money is distributed every April to states' Rural Development departments. Unused money is later collected and redistributed first in June, then again in August.If the precinct gets its funding, it can go out to bid as part of the Department of Transportation project. If not, it will need to wait until April 2007 to vie for the federal funding, and then go out to bid alone.To make sure that doesn't happen, Bill Hounsell of engineering firm CDM, has been contracted by the precinct. He plans to lobby for the local project, finding ways to make its grant application more competitive.Hounsell recently urged Bartlett selectmen to write a letter to Congress and state departments voicing their support not just for the bridge project, but an interconnection between municipalities. The precinct's chances of getting funding, Hounsell explained, might improve if Rural Development understands the "valley-wide" impact of precinct projects. "If only a few, smaller communities were trying to modernize their water system, it would be only a small population that would benefit," Hounsell explained. "It's important that, when we apply to Washington for the money, we show them how this will affect a number of communities."There are a number of local communities who are on the cusp of interconnection: North Conway Water Precinct and Conway Village Fire District have authorized an interconnect, for example. And Lower Bartlett Water Precinct already has the funding to run a line up to the Bartlett/Jackson town line, in preparation, presumably, for a future interconnect."The interconnect with bartlett village is somewhere down the road," explained Fran Lyons, precinct superintendent. He said that the precinct's water lines are getting closer and closer to the Bartlett Village Water District, and that the newly laid pipes are sized to accommodate an interconnect. "The current project will take three or five years to finish," Lyons said. "When that work is done, we'll be able to start thinking seriously about an interconnection."Not just an interconnect with Bartlett Village Water District, either; Lyons said an interconnect with North Conway could be in the works, too. One reason Lower Bartlett Water Precinct is so intent on its interconnection with outlying developments is the increasingly strict regulations governing the quality of drinking water. The Linderhof Mountainside development, for example, has been struggling with a water supply contaminated by radioactive material. Such contamination is not rare in water systems that draw on New Hampshire bedrock.Others developments, perched on the area's rocky hills, have outgrown their private water systems. As an area grows, the state "sees a value in water districts being connected so that you can move water back and forth between regions," explained Hounsell.And Lyons referred to a future interconnection as an "emergency interconnect," implying that water would be shared in times of crisis. But to get the money necessary for system upgrades, you've got to "fight" for federal dollars.Bartlett selectmen agreed to support the fight for grant money by writing a letter in support of a future interconnect."The interconnection idea is common sense," said Selectman Doug Garland. "If one area has a problem with its supply, it makes sense to have a backup supply available."