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Water Supply Committee

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Committees: Water Supply Committee

Water Supply Committee

2011 Annual Report

The Hingham Water Supply Committee was established by Town Meeting and its members are appointed by the Town Moderator. Its original charter was to investigate the feasibility of acquiring what was then the Hingham Water Company, and to report to the Town on the costs and benefits of undertaking such a project. That charter was revised by Town Meeting in 2004 to assign the Committee to monitor and report on water-supply matters more generally, including administration of the Town's Water Supply Policy. The Committee endeavors to perform these tasks in cooperation with the Aquarion Water Co., the Town's long-standing municipal water supplier, and believes that a good working relationship with Aquarion enhances its ability to carry out its assigned functions.

Over the course of the past year there have been several significant developments with regard to the Town's water supply. The following paragraphs summarize some of the most notable of those developments.

1. Aquarion filed with the Department of Public Utilities to request a 16.5% rate increase for its Hingham, Hull and North Cohasset customers. This proposal came on the heels of a significant rate increase just three years ago, and was greeted with a significant degree of public opposition. The Town declared its own opposition and engaged legal counsel to represent its interests before the DPU, seeking to assure that any granted increase in water rates would be based on a thorough and accurate assessment of Aquarion's costs and the capital improvements it has made to the local water system. It should be noted that Aquarion recently completed upgrading most of its Hingham wells in order to restore delivery capacity to levels commensurate with the registered amount established back in 1985. (The state limits the water company's withdrawal of water to the so-called 'registered' amount, established in 1985 as the average annual water consumption during the years 1981-1985.) The DPU is expected to act upon Aquarion's request during spring 2012.

2. In January 2012 the Selectmen announced that for this year's Town Meeting they would propose a warrant article seeking funds for a full-scale feasibility study of acquiring the water company's assets. The Selectmen's proposal contemplates having the Town undertake a comprehensive investigation, with the aid of outside consultants and other professional assistance, of the various engineering and financial questions that would need to be resolved in order for such an acquisition effort to go forward. This task is something that the Water Supply Committee has undertaken several times – but generally without professional assistance, and with varying degrees of thoroughness -- since its original formation, most recently (on a merely preliminary level) in 2003. The Committee stands ready to offer its assistance and advice to the Selectmen's efforts in the event that their warrant article is approved by Town Meeting. And the Committee will also continue to work with Aquarion to monitor the water supply and see that the town remains well-served, whatever the feasibility study eventually uncovers and whatever the town may ultimately choose to do with the information.

3. Earlier, the Town completed its long-term Comprehensive Wastewater Master Plan. The plan calls for, among other things, building an on-site sewerage treatment facility to serve the new Industrial Park Sewer District in South Hingham. Moreover, Town Meeting voted last year to appropriate funds and authorize acquisition of a site for the project, as well as preliminary engineering and permitting studies. Having an on-site treatment plant, as opposed to using the MWRA metropolitan system, should mean that drinking water converted to wastewater within this sizeable area of Hingham (which is located outside of the Weir River Watershed) will be discharged back into the same watershed from which the water was taken. Such use of wastewater to recharge the watershed should be helpful to the municipal water supplier when and if future state permits are needed for delivering additional water to this economically important business district in Hingham.

The Water Supply Committee generally meets on the fourth Wednesday of the last month of each quarter. Please consider attending a meeting if you have any questions or concerns related to the Town's water supply, or if you simply wish to know more about the subject.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:

Thomas Burbank
Paul Cappers
James Connelly
Maureen Doran
Sam Mullin, Chair
Kirk Shilts, Secretary
Roger Sullivan