Water work coming to town
Published on December 26th, 2007
STONEHAM, MA - A proposed Mass. Water Resource Authority (MWRA) water main project through Stoneham could create major traffic woes and other inconveniences throughout the town in the years ahead.
During a recent Selectmen's meeting, Town Administrator David Ragucci warned board members that the water main installation project will result in widespread disruptions to local residents and businesses.
In particular, the MWRA, which provides Stoneham's water supply, is seeking to lay-down 48-inch water mains from the Spot Pond pumping station in the southern portion of town to the northern tip of Reading nearby the intersection of Route 28 with Route 128.
Besides serving Stoneham, the new pipeline would provide water to Woburn, Winchester, Wakefield, and Reading. The water mains would also serve the Town of Wilmington, if that municipality joins the MWRA in future years, as anticipated.
"The MWRA is asking to put a water main through the Town of Stoneham," the Town Administrator explained. "It's a big, big, big project and it's going to disrupt the Town of Stoneham's neighborhoods."
"If you [go through] Main Street, it will disrupt our businesses," Ragucci furthered. "It's a ways off, but we should be preparing and discussing it now."
According to Ragucci, although construction wouldn't commence until at least 2010, the town needed to begin studying what types of impacts the water main installation job would cause.
The Town Administrator also advocated for jump-starting discussions with MWRA engineers and planners, so that Stoneham had an opportunity to advocate for or against the installation of the 48-inch water mains in certain neighborhoods and roadways.
By doing so, the town could attempt to minimize negative impacts to Stoneham merchants and citizens in certain areas, although the size and scope of the project essentially guarantees that work in some neighborhoods is unavoidable.
According to MWRA spokespeople Ria Convery and Michael Ralph, although the new pipeline would serve Reading - and potentially Wilmington, if the town becomes a water customer - the project itself is unrelated to the inclusion of those two municipalities into the system.
"It's a redundant pipeline and we're just now in the very preliminary design," said Ralph in a recent phone interview.
According to a spring of 2006 planning study commissioned by the MWRA, its infrastructure and water supply is sufficient in the area to handle extra capacity demands from Reading and Wilmington.
Reading joined the MWRA in November of 2005 after pushing to become a new water service customer for 4.5 years.
Currently, the City of Woburn has authorized Wilmington to construct a water main to MWRA infrastructure along Washington Street, although the town has still not become an MWRA customer.
However, because Wilmington has lost more than 50 percent of its water supply, due to contamination of its wells, it is expected that the community will seek to become part of the system.
According to the MWRA study, the new 48-inch water main is intended to serve as a backup to the current infrastructure.
By creating two major pipelines, the authority can ensure that water service isn't disrupted in the event that one main fails.
"This is a project that's been on the books," said Convery. "If you go back to when [the MWRA was still part of the MDC], this project was recommended. "If any part of that pipeline fails, we'll have another way to get water to people."
"We used to have Spot Pond as a backup. That's still an emergency [water] supply, but it's no longer part of our system," Convery explained. "But even if we needed to use Spot Pond, we'd have no way [to get water to people if the current main failed]."
According to Convery, the MWRA has just started the conceptual design of the project, meaning the exact path of the water pipeline has not been determined.
Based upon unofficial timelines, the MWRA hopes to submit an initial filing to the Mass. Environmental Policy Act office by January, with that process expecting to conclude by this spring at the very earliest.
However, Convery emphasized that Stoneham officials and residents would be included in the design and approval process, in order to ensure that construction is conducted in a manner that minimizes traffic impacts to the town and surrounding communities.
"If everything goes very well, we think we'll get a [MEPA] decision in early March. But we still have to finish the conceptual design and pick the route and all that," the MWRA spokeswoman said.
Subscribe and get Home Delivery of The Independent
Save 36% off the newstand price — that's like 18 FREE issues!