Douglas Water Commission Approves Minutes, Hears Freeze Emergencies and FY26 Budget Overhaul

DOUGLAS — February 10, 2026 — Douglas Water Commission receives emergency operational briefing amid record freeze, rising PFAS concerns. Meeting February 10, the three-member commission — Chair Colin Hayd, Commissioner Phil Spinelli, and Superintendent Bob Sullivan — heard that two households on Percy Street and Brooklyn Street remain without water after a shallow, low-circulation branch line froze and the hydrant stem cracked during a thaw attempt. A separate incident at the McKesson building on Lackey Dam Road saw a sprinkler line discharge an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 gallons after a two-inch hydraulic fitting failed. UCMR testing returned four PFAS detections across the Glen Street and West Street wells, all at or barely above the 0.004 microgram-per-liter detection threshold. Sullivan warned that granular activated carbon disposal costs — originally estimated at $50,000 for the Dudley system — are now being quoted at $350,000 to $500,000 for disposal alone. The FY26 budget draft under discussion doubles the repair and maintenance line from $50,000 to $100,000, raises water-side engineering to $150,000, and adds a $3,800 annual meter-software support contract the department had resisted for years before the vendor forced the issue by blocking software upgrades.