Even before last week’s Haggetts Pond Road water main break left roads flooded and neighbors complaining about brown water, Andover officials were working on a plan to speed up the pace of its water main replacement program, Town Manager Andrew Flanagan told the select board Monday.
The completed plan will be presented to the board later this spring. Over the past 10 years, Andover has spent $38 million to replace its 60 miles of cast-iron water pipes at the rate of about four miles per year. But the post-COVID construction cost increases have dropped the rate to about two miles per year.
Before 2016, the town spent just $15 million over 22 years on water main work.
“The moral of the story tonight anyway is we hear the public loud and clear,” Flanagan said in response to complaints about the latest water main break. “You are not going to find too many towns have invested this much in this period of time.”
The Town currently spends $6 million per year on water main replacement, but Flanagan said the plan town officials are working on will increase that amount.
Flanagan said Andover could offset some of the costs by increasing the amount in charges North Reading for water. He also suggested an increase in water rates could help pay for the plan.
“Frankly, Andover’s water rates…[are] pretty much the lowest anywhere,” Flanagan said. “There’s probably room to do more and not make those tough decisions.”