Great Barrington — The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) has cited the long-troubled Housatonic Water Works (HWW) for withholding poor manganese test results.
An order issued by MassDEP Regional Director Michael Gorski on Tuesday, October 8, lists the details of the company withholding its July results. According to Gorski, on July 24, HWW collected a water sample from 314 North Plain Road to be analyzed for iron, manganese, color, alkalinity, and total dissolved solids.
The samples were collected by the Lee-based Housatonic Basin Sampling & Testing.
On August 5, on behalf of HWW and Housatonic Basin Sampling, Microbac Laboratories of Lee provided MassDEP with the color, alkalinity, and total dissolved solids test results; however, the test results for manganese and iron were missing.
In response, the company stated to MassDEP that the iron and manganese results were being analyzed by a different laboratory, that “results were expected that week, and HWW would ensure that MassDEP would receive those results.”
According to Gorski, MassDEP never received those results.
Weeks later, on September 10, Eurofins Lab of Framingham, Mass., submitted to MassDEP iron and manganese level results from August 26 from the same sampling location on North Plain Road. The test results indicated that the manganese level was 0.025 milligrams per liter, which is lower than state guidelines of 0.3 milligrams per liter.
On September 24, MassDEP contacted Housatonic Basin Sampling & Testing and Eurofins Lab requesting the companies provide the iron and manganese sample results from July 24. Those results, which were finally provided by Eurofins Lab, showed that the July 24 manganese level was at a concentration of 0.74 milligrams per liter, which exceeds state guidelines of 0.3 milligrams per liter.
Gorski found that, because HWW did not provide MassDEP with sampling results from July 24 as required by previous correspondence in August 2018 and August 2020, the company violated two state statutes regarding drinking-water regulations, including a regulation that allows MassDEP to determine the monitoring frequency for contaminants and a regulation limiting the allowable level of manganese in drinking water.
In response Gorski ordered the following:
- The company must issue a public notice about the elevated manganese water sample from July. After the citation from MassDEP, the company posted the public notice on its website.
- Within 30 days, the company must complete a WS-25 permit application for a treatment-facility modification. The application is for the design of a manganese-treatment system. Back in June 2023, the company filed an application with the state’s Department of Public Utilities requesting a 112.7 percent overall rate increase, with one of the primary reasons cited as being the installation of a Greensand filtration system to treat elevated manganese levels. Back in July, the DPU approved a rate increase of over 90 percent;
- During a Board of Health public hearing in August over the board’s Order to Correct against HWW, company Treasurer James Mercer said that the Greensand filtration system would be installed by next summer but did not give an exact date. However, MassDEP requires that HWW must start the construction of the facility within 90 days of MassDEP’s approval of the WS-25 permit.
- The company’s failure to comply with MassDEP’s order would be grounds for further legal action, and a lack of compliance would mean that the state could fine HWW up to $25,000 per violation per day.
The citation comes a few days before a scheduled hearing in Berkshire Superior Court in Pittsfield on Wednesday, October 16. The hearing is about the Board of Health’s Order to Correct issued against HWW on August 22 after three public hearings. Enforcement of the order has been delayed due to HWW filing a preliminary injunction against the town and board.
Also on October 16, the company is scheduled to hold a virtual Zoom meeting at 6 p.m. The meeting, as per an October 1 letter to customers written by Mercer, will discuss the company’s plea for residents to support the town’s purchase of the company. In the letter, Mercer writes that while the DPU approved the company’s rate-increase request in late July, additional rate increases may be needed.
View the full October 8 order issued by MassDEP Regional Director Michael Gorski here.
