WOODSTOCK — The Vermont Public Utility Commission has approved the municipal purchase of the town’s water system, Municipal Manager Eric Duffy announced Wednesday.

Residents approved the purchase of the system, property owned by the company and funding for related projects in a series of votes in October and December, for a combined $9.2 million. During March Town Meeting, residents also allocated about $430,000 for the newly-formed water department’s operating budget.

In the announcement, Duffy called the PUC approval “the final step before Woodstock could own its future by ensuring the town controls its own water.”

The acquisition will be finalized in the coming days, but a date has not yet been set. At this point the only thing that could derail the process is if the state of Vermont “did not want to give us the permits to operate it,” Duffy said Thursday, but he said he is confident that would not be a problem.”

The announcement included a tentative date of April 30 and encourages “anyone who played a part in this process” to attend the open meeting. The Selectboard will sign the documents to finalize the sale at the meeting.

On Thursday, Jireh Billings, president of the private Woodstock Aqueduct Co. that has owned and operated the system since 1886, declined to comment until the $2.5 million deal is finalized.

The issue of ownership of the utility came to head during catastrophic flooding in the summer of 2023 that forced the system to issue a “do not drink” order. Multiple broken pipes raised contamination risks.

Problems persisted after potential chemical contamination and further logistical snags that prolonged the delivery of replacement piping.

Emergency repairs allowed the system to reopen, but in the aftermath of the flooding, Billings urged residents to take ownership of the system, which is the largest privately owned water utility in the state with about 770 customers, including the Woodstock Inn and Resort and the town’s public schools.

Billings told residents that longstanding issues with the system had not been fixed by the emergency repairs and that Woodstock Aqueduct Co. did not have the money to do the needed upgrades to bring the system in-line with state regulations.

Billings’ outreach in 2023 marked the first time the company had expressed an interest in public ownership, Duffy said at the time, kicking off the town’s process to look into the purchase.

Complicating the potential deal was the company’s $920,000 in debt and the additional cost of necessary repairs to fix the 2023 flooding damage and expand the water system’s capacity. Some potential developments have been denied access to the public water system because of capacity issues, forcing owners to abandon them and many of the town’s fire hydrants do not have enough pressure to function properly and meet state regulations.

By owning the water system, town officials hope they can make repairs and resolve system issues more efficiently using low-cost loans and grant funding.

In December, residents approved funding for necessary capital improvement projects, including replacing a pipe that has been on a municipal sidewalk since 2023, and agreed to purchase the Vondell reservoir, also owned by the Aqueduct Co.

This vote cleared the way for the town to move forward with the purchase. At the time, Duffy anticipated closing in the spring because of a mandatory 30-day waiting period for residents to submit petitions against the vote and time needed to finalize closing details.

Clare Shanahan can be reached at cshanahan@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.