Waterworks must be moved for high school

FALLS VILLAGE — It just sort of popped up, like a toadstool after a rainstorm. 

“It” is a small building next to the white house, former home of Region One’s Pupil Services department and the Housatonic Youth Service Bureau (HYSB), on Warren Turnpike, next to Housatonic Valley Regional High School.

Someone driving by might have observed trucks from a plumbing outfit at the little shack or hut. And if that motorist were a trained observer, he might have concluded that the building is a pump house.

And he’d be correct.

Region One School DistrictBusiness Manager Sam Herrick said on Thursday, Aug. 20, that the high school campus is served by two wells, one of which is near the white house.

Vital waterworks were located under the white house, which is slated for demolition. 

Therefore, a new pump house had to be built, and the waterworks revamped.

Herrick said he was expecting a visit from a consultant that day, to look over the white house and determine what needs to be done in order to get a demolition permit. Herrick said there is a possibility that some asbestos removal will be required, given the age of the building.

Pupil Services has moved its offices to the main building at the high school, and HYSB is now occupying an office suite above the garage that overlooks the football field.