Berlin must deal with lead pipes issue now

It’s not a now-or-never proposition, but it’s close enough for Berlin town officials, who really don’t have a choice but to continue their pursuit of its water line replacement project along Williams Street.

This is even though the project’s $1.9 million cost to remove and replace lead water lines at around 350 properties is more than the town has set aside for the work.

Town officials know, of course, that preventing lead from leaching into drinking water can be done with certain chemical treatments, filtering, and testing.

But the best solution, as federal and state authorities have made clear, is to remove those lines altogether and be done with it forever.

Doing that, however, keeps getting more expensive, with town officials just learning that they will have to come up with another $155,000 in funding on top of the $463,000 they already scrambled to cover.

Complicating the town’s plan is that the state plans to re-pave portions of Williams Street in the fall, which gives the town a small opening to get in and get out before the state begins its resurfacing project.

Once that road work has been completed, the street will be off limits to excavations of any kind — including water line replacement work — for two years.

Berlin runs a tight budget, so there’s no telling what the town’s financial circumstances will be two years from now. What they do know in Town Hall, however,  is they must get the water line job done now even if it’s paid for by digging behind the government sofa for enough change to cover most recent shortfall.

They simply can’t wait until 2028 and reevaluate the situation, because they have no idea what they might find.