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Consultants say Fairfield’s water system is adequate now but needs storage, looping and an emergency booster if town grows
Summary
A consultant team presented the culinary water master plan showing current supplies meet demand but identified fire‑flow deficiencies in the north end and recommended looping, additional storage and a contingency booster pump if development occurs.
Fairfield’s consulting engineers presented a water master plan that finds the town’s existing water sources and 410,000 gallons of storage adequate for current demand but recommends projects — including additional storage, looping and an emergency booster — if the town grows.
Rochelle (consultant for the project) told the commission the firm estimated Fairfield’s water‑system asset replacement value at roughly $12.2 million and modeled current and future demands. She said the system meets current peak‑day and peak‑hour scenarios but showed deficiencies in a fire‑flow scenario at the north end of town.
To address those fire‑flow shortfalls, the draft recommends creating looping by connecting existing dead‑end 8‑inch lines, and, if necessary for major fires, installing an emergency booster station along Highway 73 that could be activated to increase pressure to the northern area. The plan also notes that additional storage (roughly 2.4 million gallons) would be required only if build‑out development occurs at the projected rates.
Consultants emphasized that storage and new sources would be needed only “as development occurs” and that costs are staged by likely timing. Rochelle said the booster station would be an emergency device rather than a continually running pump and that recommended projects are scaled to development timing and should be built when triggered by actual growth.
During public comment, residents asked whether the plan’s growth curve was realistic and whether the town needed to actively seek developers to pay for infrastructure. Commissioner Kent (staff) and others said the town should be proactive in planning but that adoption of the plan does not commit the town to immediate construction; it merely provides an agreed staging of needed projects and estimated costs.
The planning commission voted to forward the water master plan to the town council for adoption and encouraged staff to continue coordinating system assumptions with regional plans and with the draft general plan.
