Safe municipal water is expected to start flowing soon at the Macomber School and dozens of homes and businesses along the Route 6 corridor, and more could be on the way next year as the town looks to improve its water infrastructure throughout the north end without the expenditure of any town money.

After nearly a year’s worth of work, officials are currently pressure treating system improvements, and getting needed water quality certifications, to cap off a $5 million-plus project that extended existing water mains from the Fall River supply in a loop around and along the Route 6 corridor, and tied the Macomber School into the public water supply system.

“We’ve really accomplished quite a bit without costing the town,” project manager Roger Fernandes told members of the Infrastructure Oversight Committee earlier this month.

With a base contract of $3.6 million paid for by state and federal funding and earmarks, total expenses to date are $5.18 million, Fernandes said, out of total available funding of $5.41 million.

The project, which took some tricky engineering, began late last year and has resulted in the laying of 2, 8 and 12” water mains along parts of Route 6, Gifford Road, Osborn Street, Greenwood Avenue, East Briggs Road, and 5th and 6th avenues.

Though the project does not bring water directly to potential customers’ homes, property owners in the area can ask to be tied into the system. To date, Fernandes said, 38 residential properties and seven commercial properties have been connected, with another three or four commercial owners awaiting a tie-in. IOC members said they hope that more area property owners will also opt in for the service.

IOC members said they are proud that the work was done without the expenditure of local funds. And they said they are eagerly awaiting the continuation of their work pending receipt of another $2 million-plus in grants, state funding matches and other non-local funds.

At the IOC’s most recent meeting, vice chairman Maury May said those two sources could be coming down the pike soon. And while the future of one is still unknown, at least $1.2 million is currently available for work that would start next year. Under the IOC’s plans, those pools of money would go to several different projects.

Current

The first round of funds came after Congressional Representative Bill Keating was able to secure a $969,000 federal grant that has been approved for a required 20 percent state match secured with the help of Sen. Mike Rodrigues. In total, the funds come out to about $1.2 million.

Though there are many places to spend that money by further expanding service around the corridor, IOC members will recommend to the select board an option that will run municipal water service to Westport Fire Station #2 on Briggs Road, as well as a new “loop” off the Route 6 corridor to Oakland Street, which intersects with Arlington Avenue, Osborn Street, Glenwood Avenue and Elmwood Avenue just south of Route 6.

“If we talk about public safety and the return on investment for all of Westport, I would lean toward something that would include that fire station,” IOC and select board member Jake McGuigan said.

McGuigan noted that during the massive recycling center fire on Charlotte White Road about two months ago, Westport was forced to rely on tanker trucks from out of town, and many of them drafted from a pond in Tiverton. Ensuring the fire station has its own dedicated supply is a no-brainer, he said.

Another benefit to running this line is that “if we can get past the fire station,” a new loop along Sanford Road would be possible,” May said.

Next project

The second project would rely on a $1.092 million federal grant that Westport applied for a year or more ago. Though that grant went nowhere, the town’s request was recently re-filed by the federal government and approved. It too requires a state match, and IOC officials are working with Sen. Rodrigues to secure it from the Commonwealth.

However, IOC members aren’t banking on the money just yet.

“Politics being what they are in Washington these days, the current administration has been rescinding a lot of these spending things that have been authorized by Congress,” May said. Instead of lumping both funding sources together for one large project, “in my opinion a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. We should go ahead with (the fire station/Oakland loop)” while waiting to see what happens with the federal government.

IOC members did not say where they’ll spend the money if that second round of funding is indeed transferred by the federal government and matched by the state.