BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Residents of Burlington and Middlebury will consider pricey water infrastructure upgrades on this Town Meeting Day. And voters in several other Vermont communities will also see water issues on the ballot.
In 2018, millions of gallons of partially treated sewage were released into Lake Champlain after infrastructure failed at Burlington’s main wastewater treatment plant.
The city says a vote for a system upgrade will keep history from repeating itself. Every day, nearly 4 million gallons of wastewater, on average, flows through Burlington’s main wastewater treatment plant and into the lake.
When systems fail or become overwhelmed, waste enters the lake before treatments are complete.
“I don’t want that to happen on my watch. I don’t want it to happen to Burlington,” said Megan Moir of Burlington Water Resources.
To prevent untimely discharges, the water department hopes to pass a $152 million lake bond this Town Meeting Day. It’s the priciest water infrastructure project on a Vermont ballot.
Staffers say the money would overhaul the 30-year-old system by replacing old parts, improving phosphorus removal and increasing capacity to accommodate city growth.
However, it doesn’t come without a cost. Combined with a $20 million drinking water bond, city officials project it could cost customers up to 89% more on their water resource bills over the next five years.
“It’s not an easy ask. I think they hopefully will trust that we in water resources are going to do our darndest to crack the nut on the affordability question,” said Moir.
One Burlington voter says he’ll take a cost uptick for reliable infrastructure.
“I really don’t care. Food’s going to go up more in the next couple years than that is, so it doesn’t matter to me at that point,” said Gabriel Whitcomb-Paulson of Burlington.
Downstream, Middlebury voters face the second most expensive water infrastructure project on a ballot– nearly $50 million to upgrade their 25-year-old facility and improve solids handling.
The director of engineering says staffers are stretched thin with constant system issues.
“We’ve had operators working on emergency callouts pretty regularly, lots of weekend call-ins, so you just get to a point of operator fatigue if you’re constantly battling these situations,” said Emmalee Cherington of Middlebury Public Works.
Nine communities have water resource projects on the ballot, including Burlington, Fair Haven, Middlebury, Montgomery, Panton, Rutland City, St. Albans City, St. Johnsbury and Vergennes. But there’s only so much money to go around, especially as Vermonters navigate the rising costs of housing and health care.
Moir says Burlington is searching for additional funding sources and aims to keep costs as low as possible for customers.
“I don’t ever want somebody to be choosing between buying medicine or food and having to pay their water bill,” said Moir.
Across the state, outdated infrastructure led to 144 combined sewer overflows between 2020 and 2022.
Community leaders say it’s a sign that the tides of change are critical.
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