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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1999-01-29 ad Hoc Water Supply Committee MinutesWater Supply Advisory Committee Meeting January 29, 1999 The meeting was convened at 7:40 p.m. in the Berger Room of the Town Hall, Reading, Mk, Present were a. Chairman Stephen Blewitt, Camille Anthony, Mary Grimmer, Stewart Chipman, Stephen Oston, Will Finch, Town Manager Peter Hechenbleikner, Assistant Town Manager Russell Dean, DPW Director Ted II o, Wate~, Treatment Plant Supervisor Peter Tassi, and the following list of interested parties: Richard Moore entered the meeting at 7:45 p.m. Will Finch departed the meeting at 7:45 p.m. Dick Howard entered the meeting at 7:47 p.m. Gail Wood entered the meeting at 7:49 p.m. Town Manager Peter Hechenbleikner made a brief presentation and handed out the rules to Boards, Committees and Commissions for the Town of Reading. The Town Manager explained the issue of water supply is an extremely important one for any community and encouraged the committee to work through the subject very thoughtfully. The Town Manager indicated Assistant Town Manager Russ Dean would be the lead staff person on this project. Chairman Stephen Blewitt nominated Mary Grimmer for vice-chairman, seconded by Gail Wood. Vote was in favor 8-0-0. It was decided that in lieu of a secretary Russ Dean would establish a schedule for minute takers on a rotating basis beginning with the next meeting. Camille Anthony spoke on the role of the Selectmen and the Ad-Hoc Committee. The Board of Selectmen are looking for the ad-hoc committee to come up with different options for water supply in the future. Recommendations should play a part. Checkpoints and reports are necessary. Russ Dean said that he preferred committee communication go through his office. This process worked well with the Business Park Committee and would allow him to disseminate information to all committee members on a timely basis. Stewart Chipman said the big capital expense of the treatment plant was the reason for having the committee. Perhaps milestones can coincide with the updating of the 10 year capital plan. Stephen Blewitt asked if it would be possible to have results by the fall Town Meeting. Camille Anthony said it wasn't necessary to have the study done by the Fall Town Meeting. Gail Wood said a report to the Spring Town Meeting may be premature but we should definitely have something ready for the Fall Town Meeting. It is imperative that people know what the committee is looking at for options while the process unfolds. Stephen Blewitt agreed that the committee needed to think of outreach and communication. Russ Dean outlined the staff resources for the committee: Russ Dean would be lead person for staff on the project, and would be assisted by DPW Director Ted McIntire and Water Treatment Plan Supervisor Peter Tassi. Russ Dean indicated DPW Business Manager Dave Lee would be involved as he has done a lot of work with respect to water rates and financial analysis. Richard Moore said the committee should have a list of issues prepared for the Spring Town Meeting so people would know what the committee is going to look at. Stewart Chipman said a 1977 Water Supply study was done that defined relevant issues at the time. Ted McIntire said the 1977 study was being updated for 1999. Steve Oston said there was also a CDM report from 1980 that outlined water use projections. Dick Howard asked if there could be copies made of the scope of work as to what is happening now? Ted McIntire answered yes. Richard Moore said the committee should get a sample of what an RFP looks like. Russ Dean said a sample would be provided. Camille Anthony asked if the League of Women Voters water study could be provided. Ted McIntire said $75,000 had been appropriated for the water supply study. Gail Wood asked if the Town had access to COMPASS. Russ Dean answered yes, at selected workstations. Richard Moore said the water and sewer advisory committee's role is to give a "state of the Town water" and advise on issues like expansion of the system, fractured bedrock wells, etc. Dick Howard said we will need a bibliography compiled for the consultant. Stephen Oston asked about the RFP process. Ted McIntire said the cost is $75,000 to do the work associated with the RFP. Robert Salter entered the meeting at 8:20 p.m. Gina Snyder asked if the group would consider additional funding through the Communities Connected by Water Grant. Reading is part of this grant and the total is $250,000. Russ Dean said he was aware of this grant and had attended one meeting to discuss the elements of the grant. He has had contact with Lynn Duncan in Wilmington. He can follow up on this if necessary. Stephen Blewitt said we will not forget regional information but we are not at that point in the process. Stewart Chipman said a regional group alliance should not overshadow the needs of the Town of Reading. Stephen Blewitt went over the mission statement and made the following points: the sheet will be corrected as this is an eleven member board; defining the need is not included in the goals; scoping of issues leading to the RFP will be necessary; and going out for an RFP requires the committee to be educated. Richard Moore said we need to educate the public as much as possible. Gail Wood said we need to have factual information presented as well as public relations. Camille Anthony said she and the Town Manager were talking and perhaps the community can be surveyed. Mary Grimmer said there were problems with the school building committee in terms of public education and this area should be focused on. Dick Howard said the Streetscape process was a good one and perhaps we can do something similar. Russ Dean said perhaps the committee was looking for a citizen's forum or an information night later in the process to present options and ideas. Richard Moore said in the RFP options to be looked at should first be presented to the community. Gail Wood said there are problems with just asking people what they want - people generally don't have the technical expertise. Ted McIntire said he thought the committee's role was to identify the issues and get community input. Stewart Chipman said he sees the committee as a gatherer of technical facts about the current system in order to make a subjective judgment. Technical facts with overlaying community input. Robert Salter said technical information is necessary, but as we're developing an RFP community input should be necessary. Gail Wood said that perhaps the consultant could gather information from community to form a basis for decision making. Stephen Blewitt said he will call the newspapers to ensure the committee receives adequate coverage and the ideas being discussed get out to the public. A meeting schedule was discussed. The next meeting would be February 4, 1999 at the Water Treatment Plant at 7:30 p.m. Stephen Blewitt said the idea would be to meet next week and then two weeks after that, with every two weeks on Thursday evening being the regular schedule. Blewitt asked if school vacation would be a problem for anyone. Robert Salter said he could not make the meeting next week. Ted McIntire talked about the committee formation. Money in the capital plan has existed for 10 years. The idea was to seek alternate supply options and evaluate the current plant for long term viability. Stephen Blewitt asked how the gas spill impacted the water department. Ted McIntire said six wells were shut down at the time. Nothing was contaminated. The Town is currently looking for alternatives such as fractured bedrock wells. There is 250,000 set aside for water exploration. This is happening now. Stewart Chipman said maps on the wall and visuals showing wells would be helpful to the committee. Steve Oston asked if the current fractured bedrock well studies will be knocked out by the water supply study. Ted McIntire said the fractured bedrock well exploration will continue. Holes will be dug, ground samples will be taken, but full development will not proceed until a recommendation is made. Stewart Chipman said there are three primary issues: the current integrity of the wellfield, the treatment plant, and the integrity of the watershed. Richard Moore said those three questions need to be asked regarding any possible alternatives. Robert Salter asked do we put bedrock wells on hold? Ted McIntire said the consultant will look at this issue and make a determination. Richard Moore said the ability to draw water from bedrock is key. Knowing what is available is key. Stewart Chipman said Ted Marina was a good resource to talk to the committee about fractured bedrock wells. Gina Snyder said the DEP and USGS had reports on the Ipswich River. Ted McIntire said it was not the purpose of the committee to evaluate bedrock wells. Stephen Blewitt said it was a good idea for the committee to have a basic understanding of bedrock wells to be able to talk intelligently about them. truss wean saia ne naa aiscussions with start about technical issues and wanted to avoid having the committee sitt through long technical documents. Wanted the focus to be on major policy issues at advice of consulting firm - that they would do the work. Richard Moore said Ted Moran and Gary Smith were consultants who could speak on bedrock wells. Robert Salter said he wants to tour the plant at an alternate time. He wants to see and understand the facility. Dick Howard asked if we can get familiar with the MWRA alternative. Stewart Chipman said he knows people in the MWRA rates division, also the community planning division. Rob Salter said money has been allocated for SDWA for the last 10 years. Peter Tassi said the original treatment plant was built in 1935. Disinfection by-products rule was a concern of the department - meeting the federal regulations. Stephen Blewitt said the committee should focus on water as a policy issue - we are not currently in a regulatory area. Dick Howard said there was 10.7 million in the Capital Improvement Plan for a new treatment plant. Gail Wood said the 10.7 million figure was a "swag" - it was put in a long time ago. The plan is to avoid a crisis. Dick Howard said 2003 is not an issue on disinfection by-products rule at 80 ppb - not unless it drops to 40 ppb in the future. Stephen Blewitt said the committee should have a summary of the SDWA. Rob Salter said one consideration is MWRA but they are being sued. Danielle Lantagne said MWRA is having watershed protection issues in one area and are being sued over a filtration plant. Camille Anthony said the EPA is concerned about this. Stewart Chipman said the MWRA currently pumps through Holtzman Aqueduct. They are undergoing a major infrastructure upgrade and will look for those who will pay for it. Financial consideration above all needs to be considered by committee. Peter Tassi suggested the committee talk to MWRA communities to assess how they like being on MWRA. Gail Wood said Cambridge is building a 65 million dollar treatment plant. Richard Moore said the water and sewer committee are prejudiced in their feelings but will be as non-prejudicial in this process as possible. Peter Hechenbleikner may say MWRA is cheaper, but they want to do an apples to apples comparison including quality of product. Russ Dean suggested everyone with internet access check out available resources, including the Commonwealth of Massachusetts homepage, the DEP site, and the MWRA web site to learn more. Steve Oston spoke about effects on usage; should conservation measures be included to protect water supply? Peter Tassi said the plant capacity is to treat 6 mgd, but average is 2 mgd per day. There is more capacity to accommodate supply and the plant meets peak demands easily. The plant life is 10-15 years. Danielle Lantagne felt sewer was an issue and should be part of the water supply study. Ted McIntire said 600 homes are not on the sanitary sewer system in Reading. Danielle Lantagne said interbasin transfers are an issue with water and therefore sewer should be looked at. A new sewer plant would discharge back into our own basin. Richard Moore said he wasn't sure if conservation is part of the RFP. Conservation issues are separate from water resource issues. Stewart Chipman said the water and sewer advisory committee follows three basic tenets: quality of the product, fairness to consumers, and conservation. Rates are the best way to address conservation. People conserve if it costs them money. Mary Grimmer asked where the water ban came into play? Peter Tassi said the water restrictions were the result of stress on the Ipswich River Basin. Camille Anthony said there is a problem telling people we have additional capacity but we're on restrictions. Danielle Lantagne said when the seven day water levels reach a low in Middleton there is a water ban on all communities withdrawing water from the Ipswich River. Peter Tassi said he was just stating the numbers not making a judgment. Ted McIntire gave a brief history of the restrictions. After the gas spill, the water and sewer advisory committee recommended the restrictions could be lifted based upon capacity and supply issues. The Selectmen chose to keep the restrictions on due to environmental concerns. Stephen Oston wanted to know what effect the 100 year flood or 1000 year flood event would have on water supply and thought it should be in the RFP. Richard Moore said restrictions don't encourage conservation -just limit amounts used. Gail Wood said a consultant can look at this issue as well as others. This should be in the RFP because we need to know what the threat to the water system is. Gretchen Latowsky said perhaps someone familiar with the Concord Street problem could make a presentation. Stephen Blewitt said a schedule would be prepared for future meetings with presentations scheduled by names mentioned tonight. It is important for the committee to absorb any and all information. Robert Salter would like to see a presentation on Concord Street. Stephen Blewitt said the committee's next meeting is February 4, 1999 at the Treatment Plant. Dick Howard moved to adjourn. Stephen Oston second. Vote in favor 8-0-0 at 9:45 p.m. Respectful ubmitted, Secre K