Great Barrington — To the surprise, it seems, of just about everyone, a new report has found that the discoloration of the water of customers of Housatonic Water Works is caused not by iron leaching into the water from pipes as previously thought, but by higher-than-normal levels of manganese entering the system from the Long Pond reservoir.
The study, dated Oct. 29 and produced by the Cornwell Engineering Group of Newport News, Virginia, is essentially a colored water and corrosion assessment. Click here to read it.
A public information meeting on HWW will be held Thursday night via Zoom at 6 p.m. Click here to see an executive summary prepared by HWW treasurer Jim Mercer, along with information about how to join the meeting, which will include a presentation by Cornwell and Dr. Richard Gullick of Water Compliance Solutions of Leominster.
“We believe that we are now on the right path toward selecting and implementing an effective solution, and potential manganese removal systems are being evaluated,” Mercer said.
Manganese is a naturally occurring mineral and chemical agent. Mercer emphasized that the level of manganese was high enough to discolor the water but low enough that at no time did it pose a “health risk.” Excess manganese exposure has potential health implications, the state Department of Environmental Protection explains in a fact sheet.
“Manganese is necessary for normal immune system function, digestion and bone strength,” the DEP says. “At elevated levels, manganese could produce neurological effects with some variation in sensitivity between individuals.”
The company also said more investigation was warranted into why “Data from individual locations provided by HWW also shows … high lead (or copper) results, including results leading to action-level exceedances.” The data, Cornwell says, “are not limited to a single household location.”
Town manager Mark Pruhenski has also been in contact with Brian Harrington of the DEP. Pruhenski said Monday that Harrington told him “he was reluctant to comment at this point because their staff had not had ample time to review the engineering report.”
Harrington appeared at a previous meeting of the selectboard in August. Harrington, deputy regional director for the bureau of water resources at the DEP, said the state is primarily concerned with water quality and rates of private water companies but not with “esthetic” issues such as the brown water that has upset customers of the private water company for years.
Housatonic Water Works has been plagued by a series of actions taken by state officials and, over the last few years, a barrage of complaints from ratepayers about brown water thought at that time to be caused by rusting iron water mains.
The roily water also manifests itself after water mains are flushed and after warm temperatures that necessitate higher levels of chlorine in the source water coming out of Long Pond. Higher levels of chlorine can cause additional discoloration. Firefighters also say pressure in HWW’s hydrants is insufficient to the task of fighting a major fire.
The company has been the object of numerous complaints from ratepayers who have grown more and more agitated, both in Town Hall confrontations with officials and on social media. Others have complained of inadequate communication from the company about upcoming water main flushings that contribute to the discoloration. Housatonic Water Works has 17 miles of water mains and 55 fire hydrants.
Water service for much of the rest of the town is provided not by a private company but by the Great Barrington Fire District, a quasi-public entity with taxing authority that essentially functions as the town’s municipal water department.
The town has also identified two engineering firms capable of conducting a thorough study and appraisal of the troubled private water company serving about 900 customers in the Housatonic section of Great Barrington as well as small adjoining portions of Stockbridge and West Stockbridge.
Those studies should be completed in a few months. If the situation with HWW doesn’t improve, the town is considering purchasing the company, and perhaps merging it with the fire district, or acquiring it through something resembling eminent domain.
