New well and water main are planned for 'Sconset
INFRASTRUCTURE
BY PETER B. BRACE INDEPENDENT WRITER
In anticipation of its new 400,000- gallon elevated storage tank, the Siasconset Water Commission is drilling a new well to replace existing wells originally dug in the 1920s and 1960s.

Wannacomet Water Company Manager Bob Gardner said the new 'Sconset well will be an eight-inch pipe set 80 feet deep into the aquifer and will employ a submersible pump to extract the water. He said it should probably be ready by April 1.

"We want this well in for reliability, and we don't want to put a lot of money into the electrical system and then throw it away; that will be a good deal for us," said Gardner.

Gardner said that this new well is not a temporary one to serve 'Sconset until the new tank is built, but a permanent well to keep the new tower filled and to serve as a backup for the other wells until the new tower is ready.

"The other wells will be abandoned and filled in, they're just holes in the ground," said Gardner of the water company's plans after the new tower is online.

Wannacomet will go out to bid in February for both 'Sconset's 150-foot elevated storage tank and the nearly three-million gallon elevated tank planned for off Polpis Road opposite Shimmo Pond Road. Gardner had originally wanted to open the bidding process earlier this month for the Polpis tank, but permitting slowed that process, so he reasoned that he could save some money by letting out bids at the same time in hopes of getting one contractor to do both tanks because, he said, there are just two companies in the country that build these types of tanks.

Currently, both the town and the 'Sconset water districts rely on standpipe water towers built on the highest, least controversial lots to create the greatest amount of water pressure and to provide a standard of fire-fighting water pressure at key locations within each district. However, only the top quarter to a third of each tank can be used. Were a power outage to knock out the pumps and a fire break out within either district, once the water in either tank drops below a certain level, pressure is lost.

The elevated storage tanks planned for Polpis Road and 'Sconset employ tanks at the top of their towers, allowing their entire contents to be used if power failures kill the pumps.

Work on the new towers should commence shortly after the contractor is hired; Gardner wants to have both online by the spring of 2009.

"I expect we will open whatever bid goes first and whatever bid goes after - two weeks at the most," said Gardner. "The start date is contingent on steel availability and our spot in line at the steel mill."

Prior to that work, C and C Construction of South Dennis, Mass. will be installing water mains down Polpis Road to Milestone Road and from the new well site out in 'Sconset east down Main Street in 'Sconset for the low bid of $532,090.

"Finally, there's some action," said Gardner. "It's been a long struggle, but

we're getting there." I