Angier, Carr, Zervas and Cabot all come in for discussion this week, and there’s good reading on two fire stations also up for rebuilding. You can also learn about energy-efficiency improvements in the Senior Center and Police HQ’s HVAC systems, the Brown Middle School windows (library), and much more in the Public Facilities report.
The underground infrastructure–also overdue for repairs–will be up for discussion on Wednesday at Public Facilities. We know leaky water pipes can mean sink holes and too little pressure for fire hydrants. Leaky sewers can mean sewer backups into homes during rain storms, but regularly add to our sewer flow to Deer Island. Treating groundwater or rain water as if it is sewage is expensive and unnecessary. So fixing both sets of pipes is critical to saving ourselves money on emergency repairs and more.
The storm water system is often forgotten, but if it collapses, it can mean basement floods, backyard pools and worse. Newton’s isn’t even mapped.
Finally, the proposal to fix sewer laterals–the pipe that goes from the house to the street–is good policy. Much of the clean water entering the sewers is either illegal connections or leaky laterals. Inspecting them as part of home sales will mean that most of them will eventually be fixed–hopefully before they break and require an expensive emergency repair.
