Work begins on Town of Jackson water main

JACKSON (WITI) -- Nearly two years after a ruptured gas line contaminated the water, work began on Monday, April 7th on a new water main in the Town of Jackson.

Bob Henke has already signed up to have the main connected to his house. He said he felt like it was his only choice.

"With the city water coming in, it'll restore our values. We couldn't sell our homes, we couldn't finance our homes, we were just in a deadlock," said Henke.

Henke's neighbor, Jeff Smith, hasn't yet decided. Here's how he describes the process so far.

"Slow, very slow and painful as we've gone through this here," said Smith.

Smith owns horses and said he's worried about whether they'll drink the chlorinated village water.

The company that owns the ruptured gas line is West Shore Pipeline. It's paying for the new water main -- and Smith wants it to also pay for a filter that would remove the chlorine.

"Nothing's been in writing. They keep saying 'We'll take care of you, we'll make it right' and we can only trust that," said Smith.

Other neighbors think the company should also pay the new water bills of those whose wells were contaminated.

West Shore Pipeline estimates it'll cost $8 million to build the new water main. The work will be done in sections. The first houses should have their water on by the end of May. The entire project should be complete in September.

While some neighbors have settled with West Shore Pipeline, more than 200 families have filed a lawsuit.