At a meeting of the Portsmouth Water and Fire District Engineering Subcommittee this afternoon, board members discussed the challenges posed posed to aging water service criteria by several of the large new developments underway, but decided not to make any immediate changes to their regulations.

The standards for water service — things like frontage and distance from property line — were drawn up in 1988, very different times, and the subcommittee discussed the impact of higher-density Low-to-Moderate Income (LMI) housing plans like the Cory Acres development behind Sea Fare Inn, condo complexes like Mitchell's Lane, and, obviously, Carnegie Towers.

PWFD Manager Bill McGlinn expressed concern about whether existing regulations could cope. "We're starting to see parcels that were probably not buildable, or with less units than the LMI allows to occur," he said. Additionally, granting exceptions for factors like the setback of the rear Carnegie Towers apartments from the water main could risk "changing criteria by precedent."

The board's attorney, David Fox, seemed to feel the three current projects could be handled within the existing framework. Fox pointed out that the prior industrial use of the tower was water intensive. "That was a wire plant that used a tremendous amount of water — 13 million gallons per year." Compared to that, the PWFD estimated usage at the Towers is only 4 million gallons, or about double that of the Anthony House apartment complex on Middle Road. "You've allowed exceptions before," said Fox, "And prior usage is exceptionally reduced."

Fox's recommendation was to treat each of the three applications under current rules and work up a bill package for the full board's review at the June 5 meeting. In parallel, he suggested they raise the question of updating the rules and regs to the board. His suspicion was that they would "drop it in your laps and run away like little girls," allowing consideration of rule changes without the pressure of a pending application. There was general assent, and the meeting adjourned.

This was my first visit to the PWFD, other than to pay my bills, and aside from the usual suspicion I see with boards and committees unused to citizen-journalists (two jokes about transparency before the meeting even started) it seemed to be a highly focused, engaged, and knowledgeable group. I'm comfortable with engineer types, and these guys seemed to know what they were about.

While I was there, I did pick up a copy of the PWFD Budget, and I'm working through it to try to reconcile some puzzling things from the Town Budget about fire hydrants. More on this later.