Worcester begins buying water to alleviate drought conditions
WORCESTER - The city Tuesday began purchasing water from the
Massachusetts Water Resources Authority to supplement its diminishing
drinking water supply.
Philip D. Guerin, the city's director of water and sewer operations, said the city is now pumping water from Shaft 3 near the Quinapoxet Reservoir in Holden - a 300-foot deep shaft that draws water from the tunnel that transfers water from the Quabbin Reservoir to Wachusett Reservior.
By supplementing the city's reservoir system with water from the
Quabbin Reservoir, Mr. Guerin said the city hopes to reduce the
depletion rate of its system by 8 million gallons of water per day.
Water being pumped from Shaft 3 is fed into the pipeline that sends water from the Quinapoxet Reservoir to the city's water filtration plant in Holden. The pump station there was built in 1966.
The cost to purchase water from the MWRA has been pegged at about $1.7 million.
Money from the reserve account in the city's water enterprise account will be used to fund the purchase of that water, Mr. Guerin said.
There is a fear, however, that if the drought is prolonged and the reserve accounts are depleted, then local water users may have to foot the bill for water purchases from the MWRA through higher rates.
Last week, the city declared a Stage 3 drought emergency. It had been under a Stage 2 drought warning since late July, following a period of prolonged below-average rainfall.
Mr. Guerin told the City Council Tuesday night that the city's reservior system is currently at 51 percent capacity.
He said the Quinapoxet Reservoir is "essentially empty," while the
Pine Hill Reservoir at the Paxton/Rutland line is at 43 percent
capacity.
When asked how long the city will be able to purchase water from the MWRA, Mr. Gruerin said Quabbin Reservoir is at about 80 percent capacity and has four- to five-years worth of water in it.
About 24.5 million gallons of water is drawn from the city reservoir system each day. Through the Stage 3 drought emergency, the hope is to reduce that amount to 20 million gallons per day, though Mr. Guerin acknowledged that could be difficult to achieve.
When the city declared a Stage 2 drought warning, the goal was to reduce water consumption to about 25 million gallons per day. He said that was achieved by having the consumption rate reduced to 24.5 million gallons per day.
Mr. Guerin said long-range weather forecasts do not call for any kind of substantial rainfall to break the drought conditions.
He said if conditions do not improve in the coming weeks, a Stage 4 drought emergency may have to be declared.
"We would be looking at pretty severe measures if we get to Stage 4," Mr. Guerin said.
The last time the city declared such a water emergency was in the 1960s.
City Manager Edward M. Augustus Jr. emphasized the need for residents and businesses to conserve water.
"This is why we need everybody to work together," he said. "We need to take this seriously and people need to do everthing to comply with the water restrictions. We're all in this together, literally.
Mr. Augustus also assured the council that sprinklers in all 60 city parks have either been shut off or are in the process of being shut off.
Since the Stage 2 drought emergency had been declared, sprinklers at some parks were still in operation. Mr. Augustus said he had the Water Division provide the Parks Division with additional help to get those sprinklers shut off.
Mr. Guerin said his division is also issuing some limited variances on the water restructions now in place.
"We're being quite stingy in handing our variances," he said.
Philip D. Guerin, the city's director of water and sewer operations, said the city is now pumping water from Shaft 3 near the Quinapoxet Reservoir in Holden - a 300-foot deep shaft that draws water from the tunnel that transfers water from the Quabbin Reservoir to Wachusett Reservior.
Water being pumped from Shaft 3 is fed into the pipeline that sends water from the Quinapoxet Reservoir to the city's water filtration plant in Holden. The pump station there was built in 1966.
The cost to purchase water from the MWRA has been pegged at about $1.7 million.
Money from the reserve account in the city's water enterprise account will be used to fund the purchase of that water, Mr. Guerin said.
There is a fear, however, that if the drought is prolonged and the reserve accounts are depleted, then local water users may have to foot the bill for water purchases from the MWRA through higher rates.
Last week, the city declared a Stage 3 drought emergency. It had been under a Stage 2 drought warning since late July, following a period of prolonged below-average rainfall.
Mr. Guerin told the City Council Tuesday night that the city's reservior system is currently at 51 percent capacity.
When asked how long the city will be able to purchase water from the MWRA, Mr. Gruerin said Quabbin Reservoir is at about 80 percent capacity and has four- to five-years worth of water in it.
About 24.5 million gallons of water is drawn from the city reservoir system each day. Through the Stage 3 drought emergency, the hope is to reduce that amount to 20 million gallons per day, though Mr. Guerin acknowledged that could be difficult to achieve.
When the city declared a Stage 2 drought warning, the goal was to reduce water consumption to about 25 million gallons per day. He said that was achieved by having the consumption rate reduced to 24.5 million gallons per day.
Mr. Guerin said long-range weather forecasts do not call for any kind of substantial rainfall to break the drought conditions.
He said if conditions do not improve in the coming weeks, a Stage 4 drought emergency may have to be declared.
"We would be looking at pretty severe measures if we get to Stage 4," Mr. Guerin said.
City Manager Edward M. Augustus Jr. emphasized the need for residents and businesses to conserve water.
"This is why we need everybody to work together," he said. "We need to take this seriously and people need to do everthing to comply with the water restrictions. We're all in this together, literally.
Mr. Augustus also assured the council that sprinklers in all 60 city parks have either been shut off or are in the process of being shut off.
Since the Stage 2 drought emergency had been declared, sprinklers at some parks were still in operation. Mr. Augustus said he had the Water Division provide the Parks Division with additional help to get those sprinklers shut off.
Mr. Guerin said his division is also issuing some limited variances on the water restructions now in place.
"We're being quite stingy in handing our variances," he said.
The cost to purchase water from the MWRA has been pegged at about $1.7 million.
ReplyDeleteThis should be great news for the Boston and others who should get a reduction on their bills.