OBSERVER Photo by M.J. Stafford Pomfret Town Supervisor Dan Pacos, left, conducts a hearing via Zoom on proposed Van Buren Water District improvements, as Town Councilman Christopher Schaeffer looks on.

An estimated $1.83 million water main project in the Van Buren Water District could cost about $351 a year in extra taxes for the average property in the lakeside community.

Eric Wies of project consultants Clark Patterson Lee quoted that figure Wednesday during a Pomfret Town Board public hearing on the matter, held over the Internet on Zoom.

The town would help pay for the project with a $288,000 federal government grant. The balance would come from a 38-year loan at 1.25 percent interest.

The project would install about 12,200 feet of mains to serve around 150 properties, according to a summary available on the Town of Pomfret website.

Wies called the current water system in Van Buren “really inadequate from a pressure and flow standpoint, and also a liability standpoint.”

Permits and easements would be necessary for the work and Wies envisioned completing those by the end of the summer. He said it should go out to bid by the end of the year.

“We hope to get this turned on where everyone has a reliable water supply by (the 2022) summer season,” he added.

“The costs are estimates… we won’t know the actual costs until we come to bid,” Pomfret town Supervisor Dan Pacos said.

Wies responded to several questions from residents who logged into the hearing.

“There will be short interruptions as we transfer service from the old main to the new main,” he said in response to one. Wies added his company would inform residents of upcoming outages about a week in advance, through door knocking or door hangers if no one is home.

Pacos said all houses would stay hooked up to the old main until the new one is ready.

Wies said the project would not need to access any houses. However, he admitted, “We’re not exactly sure where all the mains are.” Sections of Van Buren’s water system date to the 1930s.

The Pomfret Town Board must now vote on a resolution approving the work and it must take a separate action to do the loan. Town Attorney Jeff Passafaro said those items would be ready for the board’s June 9 meeting.