Council ponders purchase of McLellans Brook waterline

Randy Palmer believes the Municipality of Pictou County should own its own infrastructure. The councillor for the Thorburn area made the comment during a recent financial services meeting during which he raised the matter of a waterline that services part of McLellans Brook. The waterline was installed in the late 1960s, paid for by the province to service the provincial Department of Transportation garage. The 1.5 km long, cast iron waterline is owned by the Town of New Glasgow, and a total of 29 residences and businesses receive water from it. “I think we’ve got to look at taking over this water line as our own,” Palmer said, adding that the water is serving county residents. “I think we should own our own infrastructure and be looking after it.” He pointed out that the waterline experiences frequent breaks, resulting in the McLellans Brook Road being dug up to complete repairs. With the road scheduled for repaving, Palmer said he’d like to see the waterline replaced so that new pavement won’t have to be disturbed to fix any future breaks. “I’d hate to see a new road torn up because of an infrastructure problem we’ve know about for many years,” he said. New Glasgow town engineer Earl MacKenzie said at least 16 breaks have occurred on the waterline since 1998. “For the last few years there has been an average of one per year. The utility has had examples of repairing a break, only to have a second break up the line within hours,” he said. “It makes absolute sense if the road is going to be paved that this water line be replaced,” said Coun. David Parker. However, he expressed concerns about taking over the liability. Palmer made a motion to have county staff discuss the matter with the Town of New Glasgow, and whether funding can be accessed from the provincial and federal governments. “We’ll only take over the waterline if we have funding in place,” said Palmer. He said if New Glasgow is willing to have the county take over the waterline, then a cost analysis should be done, and he noted that it would have to be approved by the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board. The motion passed.