The Londonderry Utilities Committee met on Oct. 7 with good news on the ongoing water installation project down High Range Road.
“The main water line will reach all the way to Royal Lane by the end of next week, barring catastrophe,” reported Administrative Support Coordinator Kirsten Hildonen. “American Excavating is now going in and installing services from the main to the curb stop, now that they’ve got most of the water line in. You’re going to see them installing those services, but they’re still cruising along and in great shape.”
Town officials were in talks with Pennichuck to gather more information on homes along the line to determine how best to guide residents on the next steps.
“That is a conversation we’re having with the state right now so we can send something out to all of those residents – almost like a flowchart with questions – so they can follow along and figure out what they need to do.”
She emphasized the importance of communication and wanted to identify which residents would be in a position to hook up to the municipal system in the coming months.
Jeff McGraw and the Utilities water subcommittee remained active in their efforts over the past month.
“We had a nice water subcommittee meeting two weeks ago trying to figure out what our next steps are going to be,” McGraw reported, adding that they were coordinating with Coordinator Hildonen and Town Manager Shaun Mulholland on the High Range Road project. “One of the things we talked about was the water subcommittee doing some education and outreach on specific projects when or if they become top-of-mind.”
Ray Breslin was also working with Hildonen on a “Water Information Expo,” hopefully set to happen in January.
The energy subcommittee continued working with Derry to gather information on what a town solar array could look like.
“I did get some outreach from one of the community members regarding contacts in Derry about their solar farm that’s coming online. It isn’t online yet, but it’s nearing completion,” said Chair Lynn Wiles. “We have a couple of people we’re talking to – let’s see if we can get a site walk or something over there.”
Members agreed that while there was a lot of interest in making solar a reality in Londonderry, the project would not be easy to implement.
“There’s a lot of moving pieces to it,” said Wiles. “It sounds wonderful on paper, but a lot of things have to come together to make it work.”
Committee member Mike Speltz noted that “this is not a good time” to start a solar project, due in part to limited grant opportunities, although he wanted to continue brainstorming the idea.
Solid waste subcommittee members John Mahon and Joy Fraga Muller recently met with Mulholland to discuss the future of recycling and composting in town.
“There is a new company looking to move to Londonderry that will be very big in terms of recycling. As I understand the process, they’ll capture commercial materials like out-of-date beer cans and soda cans,” said Mahon. “There’s also a discussion ongoing with them about being a drop-off site for composting and perhaps getting involved with Londonderry – and perhaps even the surrounding towns of Hudson and Derry – as drop-off sites for composting, which is an interesting opportunity for us.”
There was vague talk about possible financing options being available for backyard composters, although there were few details on what they could cost.
“When we’re talking about encouraging composting, one of the benefits would be to reduce the weight that we put into our landfill currently,” added Muller. “Not only is it environmentally beneficial – you can enhance soil, you can reduce methane in landfills – but because we pay by the tonnage, reducing that tonnage would reduce the payment the taxpayers have to give.”
The Utilities Committee is set for Tuesday, Nov. 4, at 7 p.m. in the Moose Hill Conference Room.