Nahant selectman approve water meter replacements

NAHANT – Nahant selectmen approved borrowing $750,000 in a zero-interest loan from the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority to replace water meters, a project that officials said will come at no cost to taxpayers and improve water-monitoring capability.The loan will be paid for by money from the Water and Sewer Enterprise fund, Town Administrator Mark Cullinan said.”This will cost the taxpayers nothing,” said Selectman Richard Lombard at the board’s Thursday night meeting. “It is a great savings of time for the town and it gives [residents] really accurate readings.”The April 30 Town Meeting voted to authorize the borrowing and the project, which entails replacing all the water meters in town, which Cullinan said date to approximately 1990, as well as digitizing the reading system. Cullinan said that it currently takes two public works employees two to three weeks to read all the meters in town, and readings are done three times a year.Residents will also benefit by being able to view their water usage online in real-time, Cullinan said. This could be a benefit for conservation-minded residents and residents who may be away for the winter, Cullinan added. Furthermore, Cullinan said that the new system can be set to notify the town if triggered by atypical usage patterns – for instance, if 50 gallons of water is used in the early morning hours.”If you see that for a few days, it’s probably indicative of a leak,” Cullinan said. “Particularly for the elderly who can’t see or hear a leak, this could be beneficial.”Cullinan said he expected the meters to be installed between October and May. He said the project will not cause water and sewer rates to rise and there will be no surcharge to bills, as happened the last time the meters were replaced.In other business, the newly appointed Town Administrator Search Committee will meet for the first time August 9, and the town has already received applications for the town administrator position. Cullinan announced in June that he would retire from the position in November.There will be public meeting to discuss the Short Beach Master Plan on August 24 at 7 p.m. All are welcome to attend the Town Hall event.Selectmen also unanimously voted to appoint Nancy Gallo to the Council on Aging.