NEWBURYPORT — A long-planned, multimillion-dollar upgrade to the Indian Hill water pipeline has reached a standstill as Newburyport officials weigh two pump station locations — neither of which is readily buildable.
During the Nov. 17 Newburyport City Council meeting, Councilor At-Large Constance Preston told the council that the primary challenge in moving the Indian Hill Pipeline Project forward is determining where to locate the new pump station at the Indian Hill Reservoir.
“The issues are whether or not to put it on the east side or the west side,” Preston told the council. Later adding, “This is about $18 million for this particular project.”
The Indian Hill Pipeline Project is a planned water infrastructure upgrade that would install a new water line from the Indian Hill Reservoir to the Upper Artichoke Reservoir, with a second line running from the Upper Artichoke to the Story Pump Station, which would allow the city to bypass the Lower Artichoke Reservoir. Preston said the Lower Artichoke is currently the only source of raw water to the treatment facility, meaning it cannot be drained or dredged until an alternate route is created.
Preston said that placing the pump station on the east side of the reservoir presents a unique set of challenges.
“The importance of the east side is it would be collocated with the dam that exists there,” Preston said. “The challenge is that the work to be done there would cause a lot of vibration and there’s a lot of concern that it would actually damage the dam at the Indian Hill Reservoir as well.”
In addition, Preston said the property that surrounds the east side of the reservoir is not owned by either Newburyport or West Newbury. Approval would be required from the landowner, Greenbelt, which Preston said is not guaranteed. “We’re not really assured that we could put it there,” Preston said.
The west side, however, presents an entirely different obstacle — West Newbury itself.
“West Newbury actually owns that piece of property, and they particularly bought that property so that nothing would ever be built there, because they don’t want interruptions of their sight lines on that side of the the reservoir,” Preston explained.
She acknowledged the bind: “There’s not easy on the east or the west.”
Preston said the Indian Hill Reservoir, though owned by Newburyport, sits entirely within West Newbury. Preston added that the town line also bisects both the Upper and Lower Artichoke reservoirs, meaning West Newbury owns half of each, including the dam site at the Lower Artichoke. This means any work involving the reservoir, dams, or pipeline will require extensive cooperation.
“We need a partnership with West Newbury,” Preston said. “We need to work with them and they need to work with us to be able to accomplish anything related to the reservoirs, the dam, and the pipeline.”
Preston said that since West Newbury’s less centralized town government adds procedural hurdles, as approvals for various aspects of the project would need to go through West Newbury’s Board of Health, Board of Water and Sewer, and Conservation Commission, with some matters potentially going to Town Meeting.
No clear timeline or next steps were announced during the meeting. Preston said only that these are “decisions that need to be made in the future.”
