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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1999-08-26 Water and Sewer Advisory Committee MinutesWater Supply Advisory Committee Meeting August 26, 1999 The meeting was convened at 7:35 p.m. at the Reading Senior Center, 49 Pleasant Street. Present "vere committee members Stephen Blewitt, Mary Grimmer, Will Finch, Steve Oston, George Perry, William Freeman, Gail°Wood' Camille Anthony. Also present were Assistant Town Manager Russell Dean, Water Treatment Plant Supervisor Peter Tassi, Public Works Director Ted McIntire, John Gall from Camp Dresser McKee, Brian Buckley from Camp Dresser McKee, and resident Bob Brown. Motion by Gail Wood and seconded by Mary Grimmer to approve minutes of June 28, 1999. Motion carried 8-0-0. Motion by Gail Wood seconded by Mary Grimmer to approve minutes of July 8, 1999. Motion carried 8-0-0. Motion by Gail Wood seconded by Mary Grimmer to approve minutes of July 15, 1999. Motion carried 7-0-1. Motion by Gail Wood seconded by Mary Grimmer to approve minutes of July 29, 1999. Motion carried 7-0-1. Steve Blewitt asked Russ Dean to review the public education campaign. Gail Wood said she wanted to indicate the displeasure of Robert Salter and Richard Moore at the survey going out before they had a chance to look at it. A Town Meeting member had suggested a winter/spring storage area for water. Steve Oston said he found the survey simplistic. Steve Blewitt said the survey was developed after the committee's meeting of the 12th of August. Comments were put in by the Chairman. William Freeman said he did not know the survey was out there. Steve Oston said it takes little time to access the committee by e-mail and a "straw poll" is valuable. Russ Dean said the survey was focused on the criteria developed by the committee. The survey asks people to rank the criteria just as the committee did. The survey was worked on with the Chairman and the consultant. The survey went out last week. At the meeting of August 12th, the committee discussed the desire to survey and get the message out. All Town Meeting members were surveyed. So far, we have about 40 back. We are going to get the results to the committee as soon as possible after Labor Day to utilize at the meeting of September 16th. Staff is inputting the comments section and this information will be provided. Steve Blewitt said time is a factor and we will be making a final recommendation on the 23rd. Russ Dean said the general survey would go out in a consumer confidence report prepared by the water department as a mandate under the Safe Drinking Water Act. Ted McIntire has received a price. The survey will be the same as what is in the committee's packet tonight. Russ Dean asked Ted McIntire about a timeframe. Ted McIntire said we will receive a proof to review on Tuesday. Camille Anthony said common comments should be highlighted and we should have a "return by" date on the top of the survey. Russ Dean spoke about the survey. Timing is an issue as far as getting surveys back in time to get information to the committee. We want to give 30 days. There is a concern about genuine results. There are three sample populations - Town Meeting members, the water report recipients, and voters at the town elections. There would be three bites at the apple for some - we should narrow the population to two and leave out the election. Steve Blewitt said the mailer will substitute for Reading Notes - there won't be a Reading Notes William Freeman said he was concerned about confusion amongst Town Meeting members. Peter Tassi said the water quality report will include about 10,000 copies and be sent to every consumer. Changes to the survey would be needed as soon as possible. Camille Anthony said we should do the changes tonight. Gail Wood said she wants to make changes now. Brad Jones has places on his survey where two respondents can respond - two persons per household if there are different opinions. This is how people stay married. Will Finch said the comments section should suffice for this issue. John Gall then made a presentation on source assessments. Stephen Oston asked if sodium chloride made enough of an impact to be a decision variable in people's minds? John Gall said salt intake was reviewed, and sodium is not elevated to the same level as trihalomethanes. Peter Tassi said the regulations are 28 mg/1. Sodium runs in the low 50's in Reading. John Gall said in Florida, you typically see rates around 200 to 400 mg/l. John Gall continued on source assessments. The Ipswich River as a source of supply was discussed first. Steven Blewitt asked if the 2005-2006 date was realistic regarding the treatment plant's ability to meet standards. John Gall said in 2001 the regulations will go from 100 to 80 - it's at some point in the future. Steve Blewitt asked if it was realistic to assume in 2005 that we will have an issue? John Gall said based on the plant evaluation they did not foresee any major changes. Even if a new plant was voted tomorrow, it would take at least five years to build. Will Finch said the impacts on the Ipswich River were nebulous. John Gall said there is no established baseline to measure the impacts. Steve Oston asked if the River, under projected circumstances, meet demand? John Gall said this will be a factor of the water management act renewals next year. Based on the forecast, registered request would be less - sending a message about the Ipswich. Brian Buckley said rainfall intensity curves in different direction than droughts. John Gall said what we are seeing are the extremes. Brian Buckley said there will be a comparison of the droughts of the 60's, 80's, and 90's droughts - the results will be interesting to see where the 90's drought stands against the other two. Gail Wood said we had a study done. We are going to save water over the next few weeks. John Gall said unaccounted for water was higher in the last few years than had been reported. We took credit for it in the forecast. John Gall said the Charles River Watershed Association has been a leader in getting water to stop leaking into the sewer system. The Northern '/2 of the Town is in the Ipswich Basin. The Southern %2 is not. All water leakage in the Town is not from the Ipswich. Gail Wood said the biggest problems are in the southern half of Town. John Gall said the Ipswich is amongst the most vulnerable source. CDM will come back at the meeting of the 16`h with vulnerability solutions for Mass Highway. Mary Grimmer mentioned quantity. We kept hearing about the River being on the top 10% most likely to run dry. - Is that a possibility? John Gall said groundwater "poking through" is surface water. Lack of rainfall has contributed greatly. The watershed is so small that there may be some years when it doesn't get enough rain to stay wet. Mary Grimmer said she doesn't want us to choose the wrong option. John Gall said the likelihood of the acquifer running dry is remote. You have to have at least 6 cubic feet of water running over the guage in Middleton - but this number is the subject of a great debate amongst the different groups concerned with the River. Will Finch said he thinks Reading might be forced into a political decision to "do something." Camille Anthony said the 10% increase is questionable - whether we are going to have the resource. Has John Gall talked to the IRWA? John Gall said Kerry Mackin was in a car accident and hurt her ankle. He will contact her. Brian Buckley said the MWRA would have to make a major case to disrupt the current water supply. John Gall said the MWRA sewer permit said that at 6.8 cubic feet per second conservation mandates would kick in. There is maximum relative local control. Steve Blewitt said we may not have maximum control MWRA John Gall said the Town would have to meet a myriad of permitting requirements. Raw water quality is very high. Russ Dean asked if there are benchmarks to compare the quality of Reading water with the quality of MWRA water apples to apples. John Gall said the issue is with treated water not raw water. The dirtier the water is, the more you have to treat it. The MWRA filtering discussion centers on the Wachusett. MWRA believes it has met the spirit of the Safe Drinking Water Act and should not have to build a filtration plant. MWRA is treating but not filtering. Filtration is another barrier. Mary Grimmer asked if filtering was common. John Gall said not many places have huge reservoirs. Boston, New York and San Francisco do. John Gall said the MWRA, by its establishment, has always been viewed as the "supplier of last resort." There are two ways to take water: on a permanent basis and emergency basis. To the extent that you have a local operable source, they want you to keep it functioning. John Gall said Bedford took three years to get through the permitting process. Regis College took three years. Western Massachusetts communities objected when Bedford went to the MWRA even though Bedford's wells were contaminated. During emergencies you can take MWRA water at a premium. Ted McIntire said the MWRA Advisory Board is looking at other communities water infrastructure. John Gall said the Reading system runs the river. MWRA as a source has less of a long term impact. MWRA is a less vulnerable source. Local control may be significantly lowered. Camille Anthony said we need to know what DEP is doing relative to the Ipswich. Are there any results from DEP? Ted McIntire said Steve Johnson's presentation on Concord Street addressed the vulnerability issue. Bedrock Wells John Gall said the yield is highly variable. The Town needs to do exploratory drilling. In Lynnfield they yield 750,000 gpd from their bedrock well. Bill Freeman said in order to isolate treatment, you have to isolate Steve Oston said this source has less vulnerability. Will Finch said this is true. John Gall said any bedrock well would have to be approved by DEP. Lynnfield did not have to do a revision to their permit under the Water Management Act because it did not change their net permitted amount. They had to physically abandon another well and prove they did so to DEP. Mary Grimmer asked why would we consider the bedrock option if the source was still the Ipswich River? John Gall said because we may hit a more productive wellfield. The bedrock well would also reduce treatment costs. Will Finch said a presentation was made on bedrock wells and they were said to be a panacea to the problems of the Ipswich River. George Perry said bedrock wells have shallow filtration. Ted McIntire said the key issue with why the Town is exploring bedrock wells as an alternative currently is vulnerability of the supply. Currently our eggs are all in one basket. Steve Oston asked if any potential bedrock well in Reading could interact with the Lynnfield well? Camille Anthony said on paper this looks like the best choice. John Gall said bedrock wells are speculative. They may be a partial source. John Gall said he didn't think it could be a complete source. ANDOVER MUNICIPAL John Gall said the most logical place to go for a regional supply would be Andover. Merrimack River water has had pollution issues. Many communities use this source. The treatment plant in Andover is very sophisticated. The end product is pretty good. The Town would have to build a pipeline to get Andover water to Reading. There would have to be an interconnection to the North Reading system. Also an interbasin transfer is required. This option would enhance the Ipswich system. There is now a Merrimack River Watershed Council. The source is more "at risk" than Reading's. The source is about on par with the Ipswich, if not more vulnerable as a source. Robert Salter entered the meeting at 9:30 p.m. Camille Anthony asked is there are other communities that sell water? John Gall answered yes, for example Lowell sells water to Tewksbury. John Gall said the maximum demand would need to be met - 58 gallons per capita per day. Quality reduced demand - chemical contamination. CONSERVATION John Gall handed out a sheet on conservation issues. Steve Blewitt asked why the sewer is higher than water John Gall said the main reason why prices are down is because the 50 to 75 million dollars in infrastructure improvements. The costs are going to be handed down. In Austin, Phoenix, and Albuquerque, there is a rebate program for the installation of low flow toilets. Camille Anthony said there is nothing wrong with brown lawns, low water trees, plants, etc. Ted McIntire said second water meters average 9500 cubic feet of usage versus the average household use of 9000 cubic feet per year. The 9500 cubic feet of use figure is just for second meters and does not include the household usage. Mary Grimmer said we need to ask people in the survey about the "on again, off again" water restrictions and whether they make people water more. Gail Wood asked about the specifics of low flow toilets. John Gall handed out a consumer reports listing of low flow toilets. There are models with pressure action or assisted flush, compressors, there is a variety of options. Gail Wood said the schools are not full of low flow toilets. Robert Salter asked about the economy of doing this. Any analysis of demand based on low flow toilet use? Gail Wood asked John Gall to look into the "zero net gain" and installation of low flow toilets in the schools. New developments have to make a contribution to fund any rebate program. Steve Blewitt asked that compared to outdoor watering, isn't this chump change? Robert Salter asked if you start recharging your source, is that another source or conservation? I would like to see the wastewater plant costed out. The concept is to inject water back into the ground. William Freeman asked if this concept was being considered and implemented as part of the program. John Gall said Yarmouth uses reclaimed water to irrigate their golf course. Robert Salter said we have a golf course on the Ipswich River. John Gall said the wastewater plant in Plymouth cost 21 million and handles 3 MGD. In Kingston, a smaller plant to handle 300 to 400,000 MGDs was built for 9.8 million. Steve Blewitt asked that before we leave the issue of conservation was there a consensus amongst the committee to offer alternatives to the Board of Selectmen. Steve Blewitt said he was concerned about getting specific on options very soon. Gail Wood said people will bring up their ideas on conservation. Steve Blewitt asked if it was part of the solution to get from 58 to 50 gallons per capita per day. Steve Oston said conservation will factor in as a source. Robert Salter said that's why wastewater came up as a suggestion. Maybe all conservation is - is cutting usage. Steve Blewitt said maybe we need to consider recharge as a source. Gail Wood said as a source we would not use recharge right away. Robert Salter said by using conservation as a source you're co-existing within your environment better. John Gall said we can think of making specific investments for specific things. We are going to do something but it doesn't have a name yet. Robert Salter said from a cost standpoint, look at wastewater option and determine if it isn't practical. John Gall said there is a community building a wastewater treatment distribution system that is sending recharge out. Mary Grimmer said maybe we can submit to the Board of Selectmen our version of a water management plan. John Gall handed out the straw man proposals on water sources to 400,000 gallons per day. You can buy it during dry years. the equivalent of 2300 people coming off the supply. .)tions. The MWRA - you can Bedrock wells generating 10% of the demand would be Camille Anthony said it's very important that if we're doing this we know what's going on in the Ipswich River Basin. John Gall believes there is no answer to the Ipswich River Basin question. He will try to figure out what we can get. Robert Salter said the MWRA would require withdrawing from the Ipswich River. Steve Blewitt said on the 16`h of September, cost is going to be brought into the equation to begin to narrow down the decision path. Steve Oston asked if all work would have to be done on the treatment plant regardless of which straw man proposal was selected? Robert Salter said isn't Andover water surface water? John Gall said Andover water is treated and would just have to be tested for compatibility. Steve Oston asked about including plant in the proposals? John Gall said the plant is affected by the proposals. Will Finch asked on option number two, would you shut down the plant for a few months in the summer? Camille Anthony asked if high summer demand should be a separate category? Robert Salter left the meeting at 10:35 p.m. Russ Dean reviewed the scoring criteria with the committee: the rankings were as follows: Quality - 45; - Vulnerability - 37; Environmental Impacts - 35; Yield - 34; Implementability - 25; Control - 22. Peter Tassi stressed to the committee to consider all options. Motion by Mary Grimmer to adjourn at 10:50 p.m. seconded by Gail Wood. Motion carried 8-0-0. r