Tewksbury has had 4 water main breaks in 5 days as the Board of Selectmen tries to address aging pipes.

TEEKSBURY — The Select Board met for a work session Oct. 22 to discuss long-term plans to address the city’s aging water pipes, and soon after the issue received further attention when the city experienced four water main breaks in less than a week.

Reports of water main breaks were reported on James Street on October 30, Veranda Avenue on November 2, Astle Street on November 3 and Pleasant Street on November 4. City Manager Richard Montuori said by phone Monday afternoon that the first three breakthroughs have already occurred. has been fixed, and the Pleasant Street breach is expected to be fixed soon as well.

Montuori said it’s not unusual to see four water main breaks in a relatively short period of time, with age rather than any other external factor being the likely culprit.

“These are common water main breaks that we see throughout the year,” Montuori said.

Tewksbury’s water pipes are aging, an issue the Board of Selectmen recently discussed at a work session led by board member James McKee.

McKee said in a telephone conversation Monday that about half of Tewksbury’s roughly 160 miles of pipes have already reached their intended service life, and Tewksbury has seen an average of about 30 failures a year in recent years.

“I’ve always been fiscally conservative, and I think there are very few things we should spend money on to solve our problems, but this is a unique situation,” McKee said.

McKee has led the board on the issue for the past three years, working with Montuori and the Department of Public Works, which he joked gave him a “master of water.” Some older New England water systems consist of asbestos cement, which McKee said used to be regular plumbing that sagged over time. According to McKee, when such pipes are depressurized and then pressurized again, it results in microcracks that compromise the integrity of the pipe.

The city has a five-year capital spending plan, as does the Department of Public Works, but McKee proposed a 10-year plan to address aging pipes with a higher replacement rate, which he called “the most realistic schedule we can achieve.” V.”

“In short, we will face the problem of closing too many roads at the same time. If it goes on longer and longer, it will become obsolete and will have to be added to the plan,” McKee said.

During the Oct. 22 meeting, McKee roughly estimated the plan would be about $200 million over those 10 years.

Mackey also sought to clear up what he said was misinformation about water main breaks.

“There was misinformation about water main breaks due to overdevelopment in the city. That’s not relevant,” McKee said. “This is due to aging water infrastructure.”

None of McKee’s colleagues on the board agreed with the idea that Tewksbury needs to address water infrastructure, and all supported at least developing a long-range plan during a recent work session. Some, however, were concerned about the potential cost of replacing pipes faster than the city’s current rate of one to three miles per year.

“In 10 years, the only way to get there is to raise taxes,” board member Mark Kratman said during an Oct. 22 work session. “I don’t know if there’s a desire to do that at this time.”

Board member Eric Ryder called the potential $20 million annual cost a “big challenge.”

“I would love to have a plan, a plan would be great, but a 30% water increase or even a 20% increase and a 7% tax increase or a repeal, I just can’t support that right now,” he said. Ryder also expressed concern about the amount of additional personnel the faster plan would require.

Ryder said it’s not economically feasible for the city right now, but he praised McKee’s plan and said it would be worth considering in the future under different economic circumstances.

Board Chairman-elect Patrick Holland suggested that the city continue to seek grant funding or low-interest loans from the state and federal governments to avoid burdening taxpayers or ratepayers. Getting that funding, McKee said in response to Holland, would be easier if he had a real market plan like the one he developed.

“I’m totally on board with having something on the shelf ready to go,” Holland said.