Council reviews Lowertown water-project changes; valve replacement, service-line work to proceed, contingency tapped

Harpers Ferry — The council reviewed a series of engineering revisions related to the town’s water improvement project in Lowertown, including work on a pressure-reducing vault on Washington Street, corrections to mapping errors from an aerial survey, and additional service-line and pipe-size work that will draw on contingency funds.

Steve Terry, the town’s public works administrator, told council members engineers initially recommended relocating an underground pressure-reducing vault under Washington Street but, after reexamination, found the vault has no structural-integrity issue. “There is no structural integrity issue with the vault. There’s really no reason to move the vault. What should be done is to replace the valve components inside,” Terry said, explaining that replacing internal parts is less expensive and avoids the disruption of vault relocation.

Terry said the original engineering drawings relied on an aerial flyover rather than a ground walk, and that field…