LIVERMORE FALLS — Selectmen approved spending up to $17,000 from the town’s sewer reserve account on April 15 to replace a pump at the Meadowbrook Pump Station.

The impeller on one of two pumps at the station broke, Mark Holt, sewer superintendent, said. “That pump was put in in 1988 or 1989, it’s past time to replace them,” he noted. “I was hoping we could get out there and upgrade that pump station. Unfortunately, we don’t have the funds to do an entire upgrade at this point in time.”

Money has been put in a reserve account since July of 2024, there is about $22,350 in that account, Holt stated. “That is enough to buy one pump at this time and have it installed and retrofitted to fit our existing system that is there. There are two pumps in that station. The other one is not the original pump. It was replaced with a patchwork motor and pump.”

That pump should also be replaced, Holt said. “If we replace both of these motors, we will be able to use them as part of an upgrade to the entire pump station when we get enough funds to do that. So spending this money will not be money wasted. It will be money that we’re spending ahead of the actual upgrade to the pump station.”

There is no funding for the upgrade in this fiscal year budget cycle, Holt stressed. “I am hoping we can put one new pump in there and have at least one reliable pump,” he stated.

Do the pumps switch back and forth, Chair William Kenniston asked.

“They alternate,” Holt replied. “Currently we just have one pump out there. This pump we did get a new casing for. It doesn’t exactly match up to this pump but we thought it would work.” The pump has a two-vein propeller, the other vein is broken off as well and where it went isn’t known, he noted. “We are going to put a different impeller on, not necessarily made for this pump, but we’re thinking it may work,” he said.

It has to pump uphill 74 feet, and there’s a total of 2,100 feet of distance it has to pump, Holt explained. “We’re working with Stevens Pump out of Monmouth,” he said. “They’ve got a bunch of pump parts. They think they might have an impeller that will fit this pump that we can put in and get it to at least work until the new pump comes in. They gave me a price today not to exceed $17,000 to purchase the pump and install it.”

There’s $22,350 available in that reserve account, would nearly deplete it, Holt stated. “But summer time is coming, we will be getting septic revenue in and building that account back up through the summer months,” he said.

Kenniston asked if septic revenue was the primary source of revenue.

That is the only source of revenue, it is the reserve account of Livermore Falls only, Holt replied. It isn’t the joint reserve account with Jay, he explained. “There’s nothing that comes out of the annual budget to fund the town’s reserve account,” he said.

“We may want to reconsider that,” Selectman Jim Long stated.

Wait until after sewer rates are set at the next selectmen meeting on May 6, Holt said.

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