HOUSATONIC — A lengthy consulting report presented last night at the request of the selectboard recommended improvements to the water system in Housatonic that could cost more than $30 million.
Officials from AECOM, an infrastructure consulting group, presented the grim report at last night’s selectboard meeting to more than 60 audience members. Town Manager Mark Pruhenski told attendees the town has hired two firms, AECOM and DPC Engineering, to conduct a Phase 2 study and appraisal of the infrastructure of Housatonic Water Works (HWW), the small private water company serving the Housatonic section of Great Barrington, as well as adjacent portions of Stockbridge and West Stockbridge.
The DPC report will be presented at the July 26 selectboard meeting. Both reports will be presented to the state Department of Public Utility and the state Department of Environmental Protection, the only governmental bodies that regulate private water companies in Massachusetts.
Pruhenski also disclosed that HWW’s charter includes a provision that allows the town to acquire it. The town is considering purchasing the company or acquiring it through something resembling eminent domain. Partnering with the Great Barrington Fire District, which provides water to the rest of the town outside Housatonic, is also a possibility.
“So, if we do move in that direction, this will help inform our decisions and our discussions going forward,” Pruhenski said.
Officials from AECOM, including project manager Doug Gove and technical manager Bill Clunie, described a capital improvement plan that would include an upgrade to the treatment system and the replacement of 66,000 feet of water mains — all in an effort to address chronic problems such as roily brown water and insufficient water pressure for fire hydrants.
See video below of Monday’s selectboard meeting. Fast forward to the 0:19:00 to see the AECOM presentation:
Click here to read the 218-page AECOM report and here for other town documents and studies related to HWW, which serves 824 customers and a total population of roughly 1,400. The company’s facilities include a reservoir, Long Pond, one water treatment plant, one finished storage tank, and 16 miles of old piping consisting primarily of uncoated cast iron.
For years, customers had assumed the discolored water was caused only by iron leaching from the existing water mains. But a report last year indicated it was caused by abnormally high levels of manganese in treated water coming from Long Pond. Manganese is a naturally occurring chemical element found in minerals such as iron. This prompted Mercer to announce in March that he was exploring a new treatment system that would rid HWW’s water of its discoloration.
Clunie emphasized last night that merely fixing the treatment system without the more expensive item — the replacement of 50,000 feet of water mains — would not solve the problem of water discoloration in the long run because uncoated cast iron pipes would continue to leach. Both operations would need to be performed to permanently fix the problem.
“One without the other is not the total solution to water quality problems. You’ll get rusty water and dirty water complaints,” Clunie explained. “Conditions will persist until the distribution problems are addressed.”
The town has been under a tremendous amount of pressure for several years to do something to improve the situation. The AECOM report, however, is the first comprehensive report that includes a price tag, the bulk of which would go toward replacing 50,000 feet of water mains and improving the treatment plant and filtration system at the southern end of Long Pond.
At the end of the presentation, Selectboard Chair Steve Bannon described the process as “a journey in its infancy.” He added that, “We will not, unfortunately, be solving anything tonight but we’re on the road to doing that.”
At a Board of Health meeting on Thursday, former Finance Committee chair Sharon Gregory discussed a report she had prepared for the board in which she insisted that HWW “has violated the public trust and that of the governing authorities.” Gregory also cited a December 2020 letter from the DEP to HWW owner and treasurer Jim Mercer citing water quality problems and insisting that the company follow DEP requirements governing distribution and quality. The DEP letter also described HWW’s status on safety and reliability as “conditional.”
See video below of the July 8 Great Barrington Board of Health meeting. Fast forward to 48:09 to hear the discussion on Housatonic Water Works and the Gregory report:
Richard Gullick, a principal at Water Compliance Solutions, had been retained by Mercer, and asked to speak at the selectboard meeting about the AECOM report. Bannon told him the evening would be devoted to hearing from town residents about HWW and that Gullick could speak at a later date. Gullick hinted that members of the board would be pleased with what he had to say, but that he would hold his comments until after July 26.
For much of the data, AECOM had to rely on years-old water samples and information provided by HWW, prompting HWW customer Denise Forbes to quip that, “It’s kind of like the fox guarding the henhouse.”
Bannon replied that the town did not hire AECOM to develop its own set of data but to analyze and assess existing data and suggest solutions and estimate price points.
The board will discuss the DPC Engineering report at its next meeting on July 26.
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