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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-04-26 Board of Selectmen Minutes Board of Selectmen Meeting April 26, 2005 For ease of archiving, the order that items appear in these Minutes reflects the order in which the items appeared on the agenda for that meeting, and are not necessarily the order in which any item was taken up by the Board. The meeting convened at 7:30 p.m. in the Town Hall Conference Room, 16 Lowell Street, Reading, Massachusetts. Present were Chairman Richard Schubert, Secretary Joseph Duffy, Selectmen James Bonazoli and Ben Tafoya, Public Works Director Ted McIntire, Water Treatment, Plant Supervisor Peter Tassi, John Gall from CDM (Consultant to Town of Reading), Town Manager Peter Hechenbleikner and the following list of interested parties: Kerry Mackin, Will Finch, Gina Snyder, Gail and John Wood, Richard More, Steve Levin, Stephen Crook. Discussion/Action Items MWRA Water Buy-In -The Town Manager reviewed the status of the Water Resource Commission Review/Approval of Reading's application to join the MWRA. He handed out a copy of the'draft conditions,with notes made as to where there may be disagreement between the Town and the Water Resources Commission. He also passed out an e-mail dated Friday, April 22nd from Kerry Mackin from the Ipswich River Watershed Association. John Gall from CDM had some additional information summarizing Summer and Winter water use for the communities in the Ipswich River Basin, as well as the review of restrictions for Danvers, Lynn, North Reading and Reading. It was noted that our registration for water withdrawal use approved in 1992 was up for renewal for January 1,2008. Chairman Richard Schubert asked about the status of our pre-imposed 1992 lowest water use. He also asked for clarification on our MEPA Certificate. Selectman Ben Tafoya noted that based on the purchase of 219 million gallons, in 1999 the Town would have used 212 million gallons. The community is growing. The development of the landfill, Addison-Wesley, Archstone and Johnson Farms includes major new growth. He asked if we took the number of gallons we had purchased based on the growth. The staff indicated that these developments were included in our anticipated purchase of 219 million gallons which was intended to last through September not October as the MEPA Certificate has provided. He noted that if 219 million gallons per day were to last through September, it would have been 1.44 million gallons per day used for May to the end of September. Stretching it to October would permit us to use 1.22 million gallons per day from the MWRA. Kerry Mackin presented material including a handout. She noted that the previous permit is now void. She also noted that the Town's water withdrawal, in her opinion, is for raw water and that the Town has problems in terms of measuring the amount of raw water used. She noted that using the stream flow triggers would have saved the Ipswich River Basin 50 million gallons of water during dry months. The Town staff noted that the Town's proposal could save the Ipswich River Basin 219 million gallons during those dry months. Board of Selectmen Meeting—April 26, 2005 —Page 2 Ms. Mackin noted that when other communities were reduced to having hand held water only, under their proposed WRC conditions, Reading would have been exempt 100% of the time. Since the stream flow triggers had been in place since 1998, additional restrictions beyond Reading's current restrictions would have been in place 85% of the time. She also noted that the proposed triggers in mid-July, mid-August and mid-September are not acceptable to the Ipswich River Watershed Association. She feels that Reading's rates must include a block rate, and she is negotiable on that. She is concerned that if Reading's application is approved, it would establish a new category of"do good" interbasin transfers. She noted that other towns do not have problems with the water restrictions. (It was noted that most of the other communities have the proposed permits under appeal.) Ms. Mackin noted that Reading is not the only community that is doing good things. North Reading has been purchasing water for 15 years, and they will be reducing their Summer water usage to .52 million gallons per day. (The staff noted that North Reading took this measure because of contaminated wells.) She also noted that if other communities through the appeals process get their permits modified, then Reading can come back and request modifications to their WRC permit. Ms. Mackin noted that other communities have as low as 5% unaccounted for water. (The staff noted that 10% is "acceptable" in accordance with State regulations. Reading does annual leak detection.) The Ipswich River Watershed Association wants the leak detection mandated every other year. Chairman Richard Schubert noted that the draft MWRA statement was done in 2001/2002. There were opportunities for comment. The Ipswich River Watershed Association previously noted that they supported Reading's application to buy MWRA water. - Ms. Mackin noted that they had supported it and thought that the Town ought to be buying more water not less. She also noted that we have more data now and that for the restrictions beyond the discussion,the DEIR are required. She noted that the DEP included flow trigger mechanisms in their water policy document last April. The Ipswich River Watershed Association spent $125,000 on legal fees defending this practice. Chairman Richard Schubert asked if Reading reduces their withdrawal by 60% from current levels, isn't that an improvement? Ms. Mackin responded that she would be happy if Reading and Wilmington reduced all water withdrawal from the Ipswich River Basin during low flow times. She.would like to push for that. There was discussion about the raw water metering versus finished water metering. Water Plant Supervisor Peter Tassi explained that we are modifying the meters to provide for better metering of raw water. Public Works Director Ted McIntire noted that the level of bills is very high and that provides for conservation. The Water& Sewer Advisory Committee has not recommended block rate. At such time as the Town may go to monthly billing, then block rates might be appropriate. Our water bill and water usage also drives the sewer bill and that is different than North Reading. Board of Selectmen Meeting—A: pril 26, 2005 —Page 3 Ms. Mackin reviewed the Town of Ipswich's seasonal rates. In response to a question by Selectman James Bonazoli, Ms. Mackin noted that although they do not agree with all of the MEPA Certificate, the Ipswich River Watershed Association understands that this is the binding document. They don't agree that the MEPA Certificate covers all environmental concerns. Selectman Ben Tafoya asked looking at the April 25th draft, what things the Ipswich River Watershed Association does not like. Ms. Mackin noted that they disagree with Item (1) regarding the definition, and Item (2) they would cross the whole thing out and modify the April 8"'document. In response to previous statements, Ted McIntire noted that the Town of Reading cannot be expected to solve the entire flow problems in the Ipswich River. He also noted that Wilmington's restrictions are in place because Wilmington has declared an emergency because of the contamination of wells—they had no choice. He noted that whatever is agreed to through the WRC approval would get incorporated into the Town of Reading's water registration. John Gall also commented that with regard to outside water restrictions, the intent is that they be used as a tool to extend the 219 million gallons so that it will last all year. This has no effect on the withdrawal from the Ipswich River Basin. Reading has low per capita per day usage, and the Town should receive some consideration for that — Reading is able to deliver the results of the Water Conservation Program. If the Town of Reading crafts different solutions to what the Ipswich River Watershed Association has suggested, why does the Ipswich River Watershed Association care as long as the results are to the benefit of the river. Ms. Mackin noted that they might be willing to use a five year rolling average for water use. She would also like to see a DEP emergency declaration required in order to take more water out of the Ipswich River Basin. This will be based on "a failure of MWRA connection or source." Drought is not an unforeseen condition. Chairman Richard Schubert asked if the 1 million gallons per day use of the Ipswich River was an average—from the final EIR, it sounds like it is. Selectman Ben Tafoya noted that the MWRA is a secondary source of water. It sounds like the Ipswich River Water Basin wants to make the MWRA the primary source and the Ipswich River the secondary source. Ms. Mackin felt that the efforts of the Town in this regard are voluntary to a degree. She feels that the Ipswich River Watershed Association will challenge the registration when itis up for renewal, and demand similar conditions as are placed on the permits under appeal. There was significant discussion on modifying our withdrawal below 1 million gallons per day during the Summer use. It was indicated that we don't have that flexibility with the existing Water Treatment Plant. The suggestion was that we should draft this approval based on the assumption of a new plant, and have a transition in when a new plant is online. With a new Board of Selectmen Meeting—April 26 2005—Page 4 plant, the Town could conceivably draw more than 1 million gallons per day when there is not a low flow situation with the river, and reduce below 1 million gallons per day when the river was in a low flow situation. The idea would be that over a year, it would average out to 1 million gallons per day. Chairman Richard Schubert noted that Kerry Mackin has talked about "I" and"we" and wants to know who "I" and"we"are. Ms. Mackin noted that "I" is Kerry Mackin, a representative of the Ipswich River Watershed Association which has a Board. She noted that "we" is a group of citizens. Ms. Mackin noted that in Item 2, the Ipswich River Watershed Association would not budge from its position. She also noted that using a trigger by July 15th means more than 50% of the water season is gone by that time. She is willing to look into a five year rolling average for draw out of the Ipswich River. John Wood asked why we can't use best management practices instead of all the details.. That would give flexibility to the Town to be creative. The Town Manager noted that any restrictions should be performance based. If the Town of Reading is using only 55 gallons per person per day compared to other basin or State averages, then why should the Town be further penalized. Selectman Ben Tafoya noted that he feels the Board of Selectmen must move ahead. We want to be able to resolve this issue so that we can move ahead with the WRC meeting on May 12th. We need to agree on the broad strokes of how we want to move ahead. We want to be able to do this on a mutually agreeable basis. Ms. Mackin asked us to tell her what we don't like about her ideas. Selectman James Bonazoli noted that the Water Resources Commission has the option not to take the Ipswich River Watershed Association's recommendations. Ms. Mackin indicated that they will not accept the exemptions as written into the WRC document. The Board of Selectmen agreed to meet on May 3rd to try to iron out these issues. Ms. Mackin is going to try to draft revised conditions: 1. To provide for a 1 million gallon per day average to Item (b) and Item (c) to tweak the wording to determine what an emergency means. This would include the provision that when we actually begin the operation of the new plant, we would revisit the issue of being able to modify the amount of water taken out of the river as long as the average was I million gallons per day. 2. Terry Mackin indicated that she would put in language for low flow related conservation measures. The Town indicated that they would want some kind of performance measures tied to gallons per capita per day and would like flexibility. Selectman Ben Tafoya thought a combination of usage and flow might be a reasonable resolution. Board of Selectmen Meeting=April 26, 2005—Page 5 On motion by Bonazoli seconded by Tafoya, the Board of Selectmen voted to adjourn their meeting of April 26, 2005 at 12:10 a.m. by a vote of 4-0-0. Respectfully submitted, �./�'D.'tv cretary i 1