Ledyard moves forward with water line projects, signs contracts for construction

Ledyard - Mayor John Rodolico signed two contracts last week with Haluch Water Contracting Inc. for the construction of municipal water lines in town, according to a press release.

The first contract, for $2,384,760.20, includes the construction of water mains on Avery Hill Road, Tuckers Run and Windward Lane as well as road and drainage repairs. The second contract, for $2,521,520.21, includes construction of water mains in the Aljen Heights neighborhood and road and drainage improvements.

Water line costs will be funded in part under the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund program, which is administered by the state Department of Health and provides up to 20 percent of the cost as a grant and the balance as a reduced-rate loan.

Construction is scheduled to begin by Sept. 17 and is expected to be completed within one year.

Residents voted in late July to accept at 2.43-acre property gift of a 70-foot-by-1,600-foot strip of land running from Avery Hill Road down to a water tank in order to facilitate the long-awaited Aljen Heights water project. Holmberg Orchards owners Richard and Diane Holmberg donated the land, which Town Planner Charles Karno had called essential to the project.

The land will house a pipe running down from Avery Hill Road to the water tank on the Holmbergs' farm off Route 12 in Gales Ferry. The pipe is part of the larger $6.5 million project, paid for by the town, Aljen Heights property owners and the state grants and loans. The project will ultimately bring clean water to the residents of the approximately 300 homes in Aljen Heights, which as been plagued for years by water issues having do with an old septic system - the subdivision was built in the 1950s - and failing wells.

a.isaacs@theday.com