WOODSTOCK — Thursday evening, residents of Woodstock will get a chance to discuss the Woodstock Aqueduct Co., the privately-held company that came under scrutiny after it left customers on “do not drink” notice for 10 days last month after historic flooding.

Water from the company, which serves nearly 770 users in Woodstock Village and part of West Woodstock, was sent offline after rising waters from the Ottauquechee River ripped through sections of the distribution system. Problems persisted after potential chemical contamination and further logistical snags that prolonged the delivery of replacement piping.

This week’s meeting is an unusual opportunity for the public to sit face-to-face with executives of a private company, said Charlie Kimbell, a former state representative from Woodstock who will be moderating the forum. “Usually, private companies like this one don’t show all their dirty laundry,” he said.

Almost 20 water systems across Vermont were on boil notice after July’s flooding, but Woodstock was one of two towns in the state that had to issue the more stringent “do not drink” warning. The order came after the company was notified by state officials that PFAS, a ubiquitous toxic chemical compound, were potentially present in the fire hoses they used as a stop-gap measure to return water pressure to normal levels.

Ultimately, the company was able to prove that PFAS were unlikely to be present in the hoses.

The water system is now “fully functioning,” according to a news release from the company earlier this month announcing the public meeting. The forum is meant to inform “customers and the public (on) the status of the repairs as well as the overall condition of the aqueduct system,” the release reads.

There is a temporary fix in place for the distribution pipes crossing the Elm Street Bridge, and the company is “working toward a more permanent solution that is designed to withstand these more frequent storms.”

Helping the company find those solutions is Craig Jewett, an engineer with Rutland-based Otter Creek Engineering. He’s been studying the conditions of the water system since January, when he was commissioned by the Woodstock Aqueduct Co. “to identify deficiencies (in the system), and look at alternatives to be considered to address those deficiencies,” Jewett said.

“Unfortunately, if we had a group of individuals who knew a lot about their water system, I’d say it would probably be not for good reasons,” he said.

Out of Vermont’s water systems, of which there are upward of 400, the Woodstock Aqueduct Co., is one of only “a handful” of municipally-sized, privately-held water systems in the state, he said. “That’s an unusual animal.”

In addition to being regulated by the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation, private systems of Woodstock Aqueduct’s size are regulated by the state’s Public Service Board, or the PSB.

“Normally a municipality would have full control over how they set their rates,” Jewett said. But for companies such as Woodstock Aqueduct, the PSB determines the rates.

The forum also is an opportunity for ratepayers to better understand how those prices are set, he said.

Woodstock Aqueduct was incorporated in 1880, with many of the original stakeholders belonging to the Billings family. Over 140 years later, Jireh Billings is the company’s current president, and the Billings family still holds more than half of the company’s stock, according to reporting last month by The Boston Globe.

“There’s a lot of misperceptions about the water company; what it does, who owns it,” said Kimbell, the former state representative. “It’s been around for like 150 years. It’s not like it just started up. Part of the meeting is to set the record straight.”

With flooding and drought affecting water systems across the state the past few years, “there’s a renewed focus on rural water systems that are still operating the same way they were 50, 60 years ago,” Kimbell said.

“It’s the first meeting, but I don’t think it’s going to be the last o ne.”

The public forum is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 31 in the second floor meeting room of the Woodstock Town Hall, at 31 The Green. The meeting is set to last an hour and a half.

Frances Mize is a Report for America corps member. She can be reached at fmize@vnews.com or 603-727-3242.