100 Million Gallons of Surplus Water Available Communities Like Ours 

On Monday, December 5, we attended a meeting on the campus of Boston College held by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) where they presented the results of their study on expanding their water supply service area, including to the Ipswich River. Currently, the MRWA provides water and wastewater service to millions of people in 49 communities in greater Boston including most communities just south and west of the Ipswich River watershed. 

The study was conducted in part to reduce pressure on the endangered Ipswich River and to increase the resiliency of local public water supplies. The expansion study identified 3 alternatives to fully or partially provide water to the communities currently dependent on the Ipswich River. At the meeting, MWRA’s Rebecca Weidman (pictured here) said that “they currently have a surplus of 100 Million Gallons per day of the best drinking water in Massachusetts that could be sent to water-stressed communities in eastern Massachusetts” including Ipswich. To make expansion more feasible, the MWRA has also agreed to waive their usual entrance fee to join the system which could save communities millions of dollars.

While we generally feel that all water should remain local and stay within the watershed where it originated, we feel that an exception can be made in this case. 80% of the water pumped from the Ipswich river each day is exported outside of the watershed, never to return. The MWRA option would allow the Ipswich to get some of that water back to reduce the stress that current exports create on the river. When coupled with the recently completed study conducted by the Town of Hamilton and the Ipswich River Watershed Association, which evaluated how water can be shared amongst our communities, we now have realistic alternatives to reduce dependency on the river and a roadmap for reducing the impacts of withdrawals. With the solutions now at hand, we just need to work together to fix the river once and for all.    

Want more info? 

Check out what was presented at the meeting. 

Read the MWRA press release.