There have been six water main breaks in Verona this year, including a 62-year-old pipe by Cypress Avenue that sprung a leak this weekend. There were three major breaks in 2013 and three more the year before that.
Now, Verona’s municipal government may be getting ready to do something about the aging pipes.
Township Manager Joe Martin said at last night’s Town Council meeting that there will be a discussion around water pipe replacement as part of the capital budget presentation next year and that work on the pipes that most need replacement could begin in 2016. Martin said the work would likely stretch over six years. Martin did not put a price tag on the work, but said of the pipes that “some will be substantial.” Township Engineer Jim Helb told MyVeronaNJ.com in August 2013 that Verona spent $8.5 million on pipe work in the 1980s, when water mains were breaking sometimes as often as once a month.
“The management lesson is that we want to come up with an inventory and get ahead of those concerns, just as we did with road work,” Martin told the Council.
