Water Tales
February 25, 2010, pages1 – 11
By Nancy Wood

Water Water Everywhere

Water is an issue in Charlotte. Ask someone who lives here, and you will hear a tale of water woes. Not everyone, of course. Some residents are very happy with drilled wells that produce adequate amounts of pure drinking water. But as the stories on these pages attest, finding water that is clean and pure can be a challenge.

Back in June of 1967, Harry Webb offered $225,000 to the Town of Charlotte for a water system. He owned two farms on Lake Road at that time. More than a year later the Selectboard rejected the proposal. In the minutes of the September 6, 1968 meeting of the Board of Civil Authority it was noted, “Selectmen and Planning Commission have doubts as to whether Charlotte is ready for the kind of growth that will probably come if water comes to Charlotte.”

A few years later the Champlain Water District (CWD) was formed, bringing purified lake water to Shelburne and eight other Chittenden County towns. The Town of Charlotte did not participate. However, the public water from Shelburne found its way to about a dozen lots on Orchard Road in Charlotte, creating a legal dispute among Shelburne, Charlotte and the landowners. This was resolved with a “Settlement Agreement” that limited any additional access and required the landowners as a group to pay $5,000 to the Town of Charlotte for legal and other expenses, and $25,000 to the Charlotte Fund at the Vermont Land Trust. Two of the landowners had tried to drill for water but with no success.

As the town continues to develop, the question of water and the related issue of sewage disposal are raised frequently. At the 2009 Town Meeting the voters authorized the Selectboard to explore the construction of facilities for residential and commercial wastewater disposal in the West Village. That study is well underway.
Will there be consideration of municipal water someday? Or will residents continue to share tales of sulphur and iron, enough methane to light with a match and deep wells without a drop to drink?

My Water Log

1949 Child in Connecticut. Turn on faucet.
Drink water.
1951 Move to farm on Mt. Philo Road. Play
with hand pump. Learn how to spell
“cistern.” Watch big rig drill well.
1955 Lake water replaced with drilled well at
Cedar Beach. No more boiled water. Why
won’t soap make suds?
1968 Family compound. Water system straight
from lake. Put in filter so laundry will look
clean. Green algae clogs cartridge within
a week.
1972 Buy house in village. Spring water rises in
dirt cistern in cellar. Where does septic go?
1978 Old Route 7. Introduction to sulphur
water. Gag in shower. Miraculous fix with
chlorine injector, 100 feet of black plastic
pipe and carbon filter.
1984 New life in Burlington. Turn on faucet.
Drink water. Tastes like chlorine.
1994 Little house at Cedar Beach. Orange
shower. Orange toenails. Orange high
lights in hair. Discover Iron Out. Wear
mask when using.
1997 Orange flakes in water. Watch big rig pull
rotted well casing.
1998 Ice storm. Thank goodness for generator.
Well pump burns out after five days.
2007 Home from vacation. Why is carpet wet?
Replace leaking hot water heater.
2009 Install solar hot water system. Record
rainfall.

Frogs in the Cistern

When Judy and Fred Tuttle purchased their home on Lake Road from the Larsons in the 1960s, the 450-foot well provided very little water. She said that when technology for pressure fracturing came, “We blasted it and it produced salt water, too salty to drink. Perhaps a remnant of when this was an inland sea?”
They looked elsewhere for water. “When we moved in, the cistern was not operational. The water had lots of algae. Mr. Larson agreed to fix up the cistern, and he shoveled out debris; he said an archeologist might be interested. We pump from lake to cistern and from cistern around the house, using an ionized lamp for purification.” An occasional frog enjoys the cool water.
Judy’s neighbors have had mixed results with their water. Nearby a well was drilled to over 900 feet, yielding nothing. Another family drilled to less than 200 feet and were rewarded with gallons of fresh water.

Water War
By Linda Williamson

1994 Learn to tile. Replace tub with walk-in
shower, tiled in nice light gray tile and
grout. Seal (wear mask).
1994-2008 Watch lower half of shower turn an
awful orange.
2009 Redo shower in new tile. Light colored on
upper half, orange-hiding brown, with
brown grout, on lower half – I win!

A Case of Going Lake to Well in Charlotte
By Edd Merritt

Zebra mussels were the bane of shoreline Charlotters’ existence beginning in the 1980’s – at least those who drew their water supply directly from the lake.
Deb Smith has lived on Converse Bay Road for over thirty years, Zebra mussels began clogging her water intake pipe, which caused her to drill a well to replace the lake water as her primary source. The Mussels came to this country 30 years ago, moved through the St. Lawrence Seaway and into the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain. She said that the well goes down more than 100 feet and produces far more water than they can use. As can be the case in this region, other wells that are relatively close to hers do not generate nearly as much flow.
An additional reason, she said, for forgoing lake water was an illness in her family. She was concerned it may have been attributable to some pollution of the lake. She could not be certain of it but decided to take the safer and, in the long run, more controllable course. She checks the well water regularly, filtering and chlorinating it, and she has had no problems in the switchover. The old lake intake pipe remains in place but is no longer used for any purpose as long as the well produces satisfactorily.