BETHEL – After a public hearing Monday that lasted about a minute, selectmen voted unanimously to help bail out the Bethel Water District.

At a special town meeting vote Aug. 20, voters could cement the board’s vote, allowing Bethel to act as a conduit for an Urgent Need Grant of $80,000 through the Community Development Block Grant program.

The district’s public water system sustained severe damage after torrential rains caused flooding July 11, wiping out the district’s Chapman Brook reservoir, and destroying the watershed.

Town Manager Scott Cole told the board that the grant would allow the town to secure funding to cover, or partially cover, unanticipated costs incurred by the district in maintaining a supply of potable water.

Cole said it would cover costs associated with getting water trucked in from neighboring towns and entities like Poland Spring, piping into a temporary impoundment from a nearby stream, permitting and testing for new wells.

After the meeting, district spokesman John Head said Monday’s rains temporarily filled the temporary impoundment, but the district has resumed having water trucked in by Rumford Water District. By noon on Monday, six tractor-trailer loads of 8,000 gallons each had arrived. That brought the 500,000-gallon storage tank to 41 inches, or 30 percent capacity. Head said the district is also getting 60 gallons a minute from two wells.

The district faces either recreating its water source with a new surface water filtration treatment facility or developing a groundwater supply, at a cost estimated at $1.8 million.

Selectmen voted 4-0 to apply for the grant. Selectman Jack Cross, an excavation contractor hired by the district, abstained from voting.