Ipswich Holds Water Forum

Water concerns are not new to Ipswich residents. Above, a chart from the Willowdale USGS gauge and a marker along the river’s main stem show how flow in the river plummeted in August 2020 following a second drought declaration.

The Town of Ipswich held a public meeting on Monday, January 11th to discuss, among other things, water concerns related to the Essex Pastures project. A recording of the meeting is available here, and we have provided a summary below.

Meeting Summary

Kerry Mackin from Ipswich’s Selectboard gave a presentation on the regulations and environmental considerations of water withdrawals. Water & Wastewater Director Vicki Halmen and Jim Engel of the town’s Water Subcommittee gave a presentation on town water planning and the relative impact of Essex Pastures development. 

Ipswich River partnered with the Town of Ipswich in 2019 to produce a Water Neutral Growth Plan. The plan provide mechanisms to achieve Net Zero water use in new developments and identifies 14% potential savings in existing water use. Those savings will buy more time while the town works on a long term solution to its water woes. Using the experience of working with Ipswich, we are developing a regional toolkit to improve water sustainability in any town. The toolkit’s recommendations include bylaws, modeled after programs already proving successful in other communities, as well as means to offset new water demand.  

Representative Brad Hill spoke about the Ipswich River Resiliency Task Force and the need to develop a regional solution. The task force, convened by Ipswich River and Senator Bruce Tarr, is a group of municipal staff and state officials that has been meeting since the 2016 drought. The Task Force discusses paths to making the region’s water supplies more resilient and to reduce the stress on the Ipswich River. Projects like Ipswich’s Coastal Zone Management resiliency grant are advancing the goal of the task force for regional solutions. The project’s outreach uses local examples to more widely explore how Massachusetts can adapt to a changing climate and demands for growth. 

Ipswich River’s Position

Following the presentations by officials, the public was allowed to provide comments. Ipswich River Executive Director Wayne Castonguay summarized the organization’s position on the Ipswich situation as follows:

• Implement the Water Neutral Growth Plan, and in the interim require all new developments meet its provisions
• Reduce current withdrawals in the highly stressed Egypt River sub-basin and increase withdrawals in the less stressed adjacent Muddy Run sub-basin
• Increase working with Ipswich River Resiliency Task force to pursue less damaging regional solutions to achieve a permanent solution to the problem.

Ipswich is scheduled to hold another, more general, water forum in a couple months. Please subscribe to our emails to make sure you get the alert!