2022 Annual Report
Jericho Underhill Water District Board of Trustees’ Annual Report
P.O. Box 174 Underhill, Vermont 05489
October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022
The Jericho-Underhill Water District provided drinking water and fire hydrant access to 326+ residential and business connections representing about 900 people within the District. During the past year drinking water supplied to the District averaged about 40,000 gallons per day. Water delivered to District customers this year was of high quality and adequate quantity and met all State and Federal requirements.
Our Chief Operator, Kirk Patch of Champlin Associates in Essex, VT resigned from his duties and was replaced by Lucas DiMauro, Chief Operator, and Mike Johnson, Operator in Training, both Champlin Associates’ employees. We hired Brian Picotte of Underhill as our assistant Operator. The Trustees consisted of Joseph P. O’Brien, President from Underhill, Tanner Palmer, Trustee from Jericho, and Stephen Jennings, Trustee from Underhill. Nancy Benson served as Clerk and Treasurer. Andy Foresberg served as Delinquent Bill Collector and back-up support for the system. Auditors were Vicki Milton, Harland Blodgett, and Bill VanDeVenter. Marc Maheux continued to manage our website and was available for consultations. Helen Miller was our local water tester. The Trustees wish to thank everyone for their work this past year.
Listed below are some highlights of the past year:
- Weekly testing along with yearly testing for lead and copper were completed. Results for all testing were very good with all levels well below state and federal requirements. We also tested for coliform, iron, manganese, Asbestos, and VOC (volatile organic compound) tests. Specific test for Haloacetics and Trihalomethanes along with all other tests were within or below the Federal and State regulations.
- We were fortunate over the winter to have no leaks on any service line. We did repair a service line connector leak for the dance studio on River Road.
- Flushing of main lines was completed in the spring and late fall to clear lines of mineral sediments and residue.
- Our Consumer Confidence Report was distributed to all customers either electronically or hand delivered and our Source Protect Plan was updated.
- We applied for a grant from the State Water Resources and AARPA for assistance in extending our service northeast on Poker Hill to homes and businesses that have experienced dry wells. We have appealed a denial from the State, as funds are targeted for water quality improvement. Extension of service was not approved even though some home owners have run out of water in the past.
- New digital 5G Mission Radio Unit software was installed at Maple Ridge tank for redundant controls of the well pumps.
- We changed operators in February when Kirk Patch left Champlin Associates. Lucas DiMauro and Mike Johnson were hired by Champlin to be our operators.
- A power outage occurred in early April that was caused by a major fuse failure at the control building. Timely replacement allowed continued service after using our standby generator. The outage did cause some mineral sediment in the Maple Ridge tank which was distributed to customers. Our operators flushed the main lines right after the outage.
- All three tanks were inspected in June using a submersible drone and camera. The tanks were in great structural shape but had a significant amount of mineral sediment collecting on the tank bottoms. The Trustees plan to have the tanks drained and cleaned this fall.
- The trustees apologize for the limited discolored water that some customers experienced over the summer. There were three major occurrences that caused minerals in the main lines to be stirred up. Hopefully flushing in September will eliminate this issue.
- We are appreciative to the United Church of Underhill for allowing us space for our month meetings.
Joseph P. O'Brien, President
Tanner Palmer, Trustee
Stephen Jennings, Trustee