Stockbridge, Great Barrington, and Housatonic — The Stockbridge Board of Health discussed the situation facing customers of Housatonic Water Works at its meeting on Friday, March 10. According to its 2021 return to the state, as of 2021, the company has 23 customers in Stockbridge, 66 in West Stockbridge, and 750 in Housatonic.
During the public comment portion of the March 10 meeting, mostly Housatonic residents who are customers of HWW spoke to the board. Fred Coleman was the only HWW customer from Stockbridge who spoke during public comment. Coleman told the board that he lives a quarter of a mile north from the Housatonic town line and that his family, along with 11 other properties, receive their water from HWW. “We have the same issues that people in the Housatonic area have,” Coleman said. “I have a dog and when I give him water from the tap, he walks up to his water dish, sniffs it, and then walks away. That dog is smarter than we are, I guess.”
Coleman said that his family has to purchase several cases of water frequently to use around their home and that he also uses filtered water. “The filters [for the water] are supposed to last three months, but instead they last only three weeks,” Coleman said. “We would like to know if there is something [the town] can do. It’s a situation in our neighborhood. We’re just 12 houses, but in almost every single house, there has been at least one case of cancer of one form or another. I don’t know if that’s directly related to the water.”
While it has not been proven that water from HWW’s water supply has directly caused any case of cancer, for quite some time the company has come under scrutiny from the towns that it services, along with MassDEP, for exceeding drinking water standards when it comes to haloacetic acids (HAA5). Back on January 10, the company sent a letter to customers that its water system exceeded HAA5 standards during testing in the fourth quarter of 2022.
According to the letter from the company, during fourth quarter testing, the level of HAA5 averaged 66 micrograms per liter at the water system’s 314 North Plain Road location. The maximum contaminant level (MCL) for HAA5, as set by both the federal and state Department of Environmental Protection, is 60 micrograms per liter. In the letter, the company notes that, while it is not an emergency, “Some people who drink water containing haloacetic acids in excess of the MCL over many years may have an increased risk of getting cancer. In addition, young children (including infants), pregnant women, or those who may become pregnant may be potentially more susceptible to risks from exposures to chemicals, such as HAA5.”
In the past, high levels of manganese have also been found in the water system.
Back in November, representatives from HWW spoke about a pilot study of the company’s small-scale GreensandPlus filtration system. At the November meeting, however, company representatives said that MassDEP is looking for a full-year pilot study before HWW could install a full GreensandPlus filtration system.
The remainder of public comments during the hearing came from residents of Housatonic who are customers of HWW, including Denise Forbes who is a member of the Residents for Safe Water group. “The Great Barrington Health Board has not taken any stance or done anything to help us, and I find it very disheartening,” Forbes told the board. “I find it very great that you guys are thinking about doing something or taking action or even bringing it on your agenda because we have been faced with such horrific water. The company has been getting away with this for over 30 years.”
Forbes brought to the meeting water samples that she said were from taps that served HWW water. “We’re all dealing with this horrible water and nothing is happening to this company,” Forbes said. “They continue to increase the rates and nothing happens.”
In response to the public comments, Jim Wilusz, Director of the Tri-Town Health Department, said that the town has been in communication with MassDEP and has been trying to communicate with Great Barrington officials about HWW. “We’ve been trying to figure out if there have been any Stockbridge residents that have been affected [by the situation],” Wilusz said. “We have had a hard time understanding if there were Stockbridge residents affected by this. We haven’t taken any action because we’re trying to get an understanding [of the situation]. We haven’t been at the table with Great Barrington or West Stockbridge.”
Board of Health Chairman Charles Kenny said that any potential solution to the situation would take some time. “It reflects on the quality of a town to have a good water supply,” Kenny said. “I do think, with all deference to the people from Housatonic that are here [at the meeting] that we do have to look at the complaints from our Stockbridge citizens a little differently than we look at the Housatonic ones.”
Board member John Loiodice, who is also a member of the town’s Water and Sewer Commission, said that, while he is concerned about the situation of HWW customers in Stockbridge, he had not heard of any concerns from those customers until he heard Coleman’s comments at the March 10 meeting.
Eventually, the board unanimously voted to approve a motion for the board to send a letter asking Great Barrington town officials to allow Stockbridge officials to be included in any correspondence involving HWW. “We did consult with the town council on what kind of jurisdictional authority the Stockbridge Board of Health may or may not have in this situation,” Wilusz added. “It’s hard because the water supply is in another town, but we have a distribution line on our side that our town manages. But we don’t have a say or control of how the water supply functions in Great Barrington. The board wants to put time into this situation and I think we’re all in on this, but we’re trying to figure out what we can do to support [HWW customers]. It’s not that we’re discrediting the Housatonic residents, but obviously, we have the diligence to deal with our Stockbridge residents.”
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, March 8, MassDEP Drinking Water Section Chief Deirdre Doherty sent a letter to the Great Barrington Selectboard. Doherty’s letter was in response to the board’s February 14 letter that issued concerns about discolored water and the impact of HAA5 in the drinking water supply. “MassDEP also shares the same concerns and has worked and continues to work with HWW to address these concerns,” Doherty wrote to the Selectboard. “The response to complaints has led MassDEP to require HWW to conduct water quality monitoring, specifically routine twice-a-month distribution system monitoring at three locations for manganese and other parameters (six samples per month), and to conduct sampling of water at residential properties that reported discolored drinking water. MassDEP has also collected samples in the HWW distribution system.”
Doherty wrote that MassDEP is continuing to review its oversight options. “Currently, MassDEP is reviewing HWW’s corrective action report of alternatives for controlling the formation of Haloacetic Acids and other Disinfection Byproducts,” Doherty wrote. “MassDEP has directed HWW to implement one of two recommended actions this year. MassDEP is continuing its review of the second recommended corrective action. MassDEP has received the interim manganese pilot treatment report for review as well and will respond accordingly to HWW’s proposal to address Manganese problems. Please note that, as with any governmental agency, MassDEP’s actions regarding the Commonwealth’s drinking water program is informed and controlled by the laws, regulations, established standards, and relevant policies. In doing so, MassDEP continues to hold public water suppliers, including HWW, accountable in the event of noncompliance with established standards.”
