Great Barrington — The Department of Public Utilities (DPU) will not take into consideration recent complaints about discolored water in the rate case concerning Housatonic Water Works.
According to the DPU’s website, Housatonic resident Bill Nappo wrote to the DPU on July 5 that HWW is distributing discolored water to its customers that has “a chemical smell.” “The town of Great Barrington has to take further aggressive steps for testing the quality of the water being delivered,” Nappo wrote to the DPU. “The towns should be doing this through our own Great Barrington Health department to ensure samples are accurate and it is tested properly by an independent company other than the HHW. Please advise as this is a continual ongoing situation that needs to be corrected.”
Nappo sent a second email to the DPU on July 7 with photos of discolored clothes.
On July 11, Hearing Officer Kevin Crane wrote that the DPU would have to disallow the complaints from the rate case. The DPU’s deadline for submitting comments in the rate case was June 21. “Pursuant to the Department’s regulations, from the time of an initial filing in an adjudicatory proceeding until the rendering of a final decision, a Commissioner, hearing officer, or staff member of the Department may not communicate with a party or interested person about any substantive issue of fact, law, or policy except upon a reasonable notice and opportunity for all parties to participate,” Crane wrote. “The emails [sent by Nappo] were neither timely filed in response to a solicitation for comments nor submitted to the service list in this proceeding and, as such, constitute ex parte communications. The department will not consider these communications as part of the record in this proceeding.”
For years, HWW customers have had to deal with discolored water, which has been attributed to high levels of manganese. On July 11, the company issued a press release concerning the discolored water and manganese issues. “We are committed to providing you with the highest quality water at Housatonic Water Works Company,” the company stated. “We have recently received inquiries from customers regarding discolored water. We want to remind our valued customers that this is a seasonal issue, with the last occurrence during the summer of 2022.”
The company cited climate change as the reason for “seasonal discoloration due to manganese.” “We understand that discolored water is a significant concern for our customers,” HWW Treasurer James Mercer states in the press release. “Rest assured, we are working diligently to resolve this issue and enhance the quality of our water supply. If residents are concerned about manganese in their drinking water, they should refer to housatonicwater.com for information from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.”
Meanwhile, HWW customers on the Facebook group Housatonic residents v HWW continue to publish photos of discolored water and water filters.
