Porters Are Given Permission
To Disconnect Town Water

By Chelsea Rose Sargent

Dwight and Mary Porter ap–proached the Randolph selectboard last week, asking for permission to be disconnected from the town water system.

Theirs is currently the only house being serviced on the longest line in town, and they have been having difficulty, they told the selectboard.

"If you leave the house for three weeks, it takes two hours to get grey water, not clear water," Porter reported. At times the water is the consistency of "chocolate pudding," he said.

Porter objected to the Water and Sewer Committee’s description of the water as being "palatable."

The Porters have their own ground well which they would like to use instead of using the town system.

Pat French, representing the Water and Sewer Committee, reported that the committee recommended that the Porters not be allowed to leave the system.

The Committee was worried that setting a precedent of allowing people to leave the system would cause a chain reaction and that the town water system would suffer. French reported that it is not uncommon for towns to refuse to allow people on the system even to dig their own wells to prevent them from leaving the system.

Spreading the costs of the system over fewer users means that the remaining users have to pay more, it was noted.

Current ordinances say that one may only be disconnected from the town system with the approval and that a minimum fee has to be paid in perpetuity.

However, in making their decision, the selectboard noted that the Porters had moved their home from one location to another, thus making it a new site.

"The house no longer exists where the service is, so, based on that, we allow them to terminate their service and they have to continue to pay the minimum until the main is capped," Selectman Jim Hutchinson recommended.

This goes along with current ordinances so the selectboard unanimously voted to allow the Porters to disconnect from the system.