Your Water Commissioners and Water Department staff continue to work the problem with Chester’s water system.
DEP’s boil water order remains in effect and only DEP can lift it. This is our immediate priority. We are working with our engineers and consultants to meet DEP’s requirements for that to occur. We regret it is taking so long.
Chester’s water can still be used for showering, bathing, and doing laundry. DEP recommends boiling water to be used for food preparation or washing of dishes.
The Clear Well at the Water Treatment Plant, which holds the filtered water, contains 330,000 gallons for distribution to the town. We generally see water usage of between 45,000 gallons to 50,000 gallons per day. The Clear Well, if not replenished, would be totally empty in about 7 days. This means the water in there has changed 3 times from the beginning of the month till now and that water has been sourced from Horn Pond.
While high manganese levels are a concern over the long term, the levels present are well below those levels and are safe for human consumption.
We will relay to you the latest results of chemical analysis of our water:
First, the higher levels of manganese were from the old water source, Austin Brook Reservoir, and we have switched to the alternate source of water, Horn Pond, at the end of July.
Here are the numbers from both sources:
Austin Brook
• Iron 1.62mg/L level of concern 0.3mg/L
• Manganese 0.346 mg/L level of concern 0.05mg/L
Horn Pond
• Iron 0.162mg/L level of concern 0.3mg/L
• Manganese 0.0306mg/L level of concern 0.05mg/L
As of July 30th, Horn Pond has been used as the town’s water source and has water that is far below the levels of concern for iron or manganese in the water.
Other things that we have been working on:
• On Wednesday, diver Wayne Pierce, recruited and taken to Horn Pond by Commissioner Frank Pero, spent several hours underwater assessing the water intake and water piping issues. He observed a section of pipe near the surface, separated from restraints on the bottom. He observed several locations where restraints have disintegrated and pipe is a couple of feet above the bottom. He located and determined the dual column intake is still in place and is functioning, however, its metal supports have rusted away.
• Today our team with Mass Rural Water will visit Horn Pond (for the fifth time in a month) and attempt to re-secure the 50′ section of piping near the surface.
The goal is to:
A) relieve stress on the pipe
B) increase Gallons Per Minute (GPM) flow to the Water Treatment Plant (WTP) which is currently substantially reduced.
The long-term solution to improve the water supply system from Horn Pond now that it is our only source will require securing funding to address pond pipe replacement, upgrading the 111 year old water works, scouring 3 miles of pipe from the pond to the WTP, as well as restoring our deeded access to the works.
We recognize that the funding burden is on the town and its 250 rate payers with limited financial capacity. Once the three new filters are turbidity free, which they will be, we will inspect and clean the clear-well, further improving water quality. We will learn the exact location of the chem feed point and determine if adding either a diffuser or aeration will help promote better control of chlorine dosing. That is part of the ARPA-funded Engineering Study also required by DEP.
• Several Water Commissioners will attend the Board of Selectmen meeting on Monday, August 26th, at 6PM, in the Town Hall Auditorium to give an update and answer any questions.
• The Water Commission will also be scheduling a Commission meeting in the next week or so to update town water users and answer any questions.
• If you have questions, please feel free to call Water Commissioners at home. Our numbers are listed on the Water Department page.
• Finally, the Board of Selectmen and the Water Commission continue to provide free drinking water to Chester water system customers at the Fire Department HQ on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9AM–5PM and Saturdays from 9AM–1PM.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.