Work on a new water main along the Shirley border is moving well ahead of schedule, according to Water District Superintendent Fran McNamara.

    The actual installation of the water main was completed Monday, McNamara said.  “The water main is functional right now,” McNamara explained in a phone interview with The Ledger Monday, adding that the main is currently serving Page Street and Reservoir Road.

    Water main crews — who have been working on the main since May— will now focus on some hydrants and replanting grass in the front lawns in the area and will come back in the spring to repave the area, according to McNamara.

    The new water main and well, which is not completed yet, is part of an estimated $3.6 million project the district has funded through a 14 percent average increase in water rates. (Originally there was a 53 percent in rates, which was lowered once the cost of the project was found to be $1 million less than what was proposed.) Land costs associated with the project amount to an additional $630,000.

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