Residents fed up with bad water

The water that flows through the faucets, staining the bathtubs and sinks at many homes on Poole Circle in Holbrook, is so rusty that Tracy Loughlin won't let her two small boys bathe in it.

She bundles up Tyler, 5, and John, 7, at the end of a long day at work and drives them 12 miles to her mother's house in Hanover for their baths.

"My water is too rusty and brown and smelly to bathe them in it," said Loughlin, 32. "I don't want to risk it. It can't be too healthy."

Like many residents on the half-circle lined with 1950s ranch houses, the Loughlins don't drink the water. They don't even let their purebred American bulldog, Princess, lap it out of a bowl.

Poole Circle isn't the only Holbrook neighborhood that has had problems with rusty water for years.

But things have gotten so bad on Poole Circle over the past six months that residents recently petitioned selectmen to take action. Now fire hydrants in the neighborhood are on automatic timers to help flush out the system, and water samples have been sent to the state for testing.

Last Wednesday, workers from the town Department of Public Works dug up a section of water pipe on Poole Circle to examine it. They planned to dig up another section Friday. The short sections were to be replaced with new pipe.

"We're taking a section of the pipe out, a 2-foot section, to see what the interior of the pipe looks like," DPW superintendent Thomas Cummings said. "When I see what the interior looks like, I'll know further what we have to do."

Most town residents and town officials believe that the water is discolored because the pipes are old and rusted.

Town Administrator Michael Yunits said he is hoping that a regular flushing on Poole Circle will solve the problem. Residents say that the flushing, which started a few weeks ago, seemed to work at first but then the rusty water returned. So officials may be forced to consider water main replacement.

"If you're going to do that whole area of town, you're talking millions," Yunits said.

Holbrook voters approved tax increases in 2003 and 2004, providing a total of about $11 million to allow the town to take out loans for water system upgrades. According to Cummings, the money is being spent to replace major water mains from the Randolph reservoir. The job is expected to be finished by the end of the year.

The Poole Circle neighborhood and four others will continue to have problems, however. Cummings said officials have estimated that it would cost $3.5 million to replace pipes in three of the neighborhoods. No money has been appropriated for the work.

So, on Poole Circle, hardly anyone cooks with the water. Instead, they use bottled water.

Residents complain that their laundry comes out stained and that the anti-rust products they buy no longer work to clean their toilets and sinks, leaving the porcelain discolored.

One resident, Tuan Nguyen, says the water from the shower "sticks to your skin." Others are left to debate whether they'll be cleaner if they forgo a shower in their home.

Water quality has never been great on Poole Circle, residents say. But it had been manageable until about six months ago, when the color deepened to an alarming reddish brown.

That's what caused 20 residents to go to selectmen with their petition.

"We the undersigned residents of Poole Circle have had enough," read the petition, calling the water problems they face moderate to severe. "These problems have included but are not limited to a metallic or rotten egg smell, brown discolored water, ruined laundry, and the inability to take baths because of the condition of our water."

Loughlin's husband, John, said he also went to the town Board of Health to complain. The secretary logged his complaint, but he said she told him that the board doesn't meet in the summertime and that the health agent had recently resigned.

Since residents submitted their petition, Town Hall officials have been more attentive, however.

Yunits said the Department of Public Works has installed the timer device to flush the lines regularly. And water samples have been taken and forwarded to the state Department of Environmental Protection.

"It's to the point where you hope the results are so bad that the state has to come in and order them to do something," said John Loughlin.

If the water mains in the Poole Circle neighborhood have to be replaced, the project could be financed either by borrowing money, an option that would need approval in a town election, or through a water rate increase. It is unlikely, said Yunits, that the town is eligible for grant money.

Like many communities, Holbrook is strapped for cash. Voters in the last special election, in June, rejected a $1.3 million override to create a library in the junior/senior high school, which has already had its accreditation suspended by the state.

But residents dealing with rusty water say fixing the situtaion should be a priority.

"This is one issue that must be addressed," said 79-year-old Bernice Seronick, who lives on Loud Road, about a half-mile from Poole Circle, and has been battling water problems for years.

"I know you need new schools, but water comes first. You can learn in a one-room schoolhouse, but this is a basic necessity in life."