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Date: 10/15/2015
EAST LONGMEADOW – An out-of-town landscaping firm may be fined by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) for connecting to the community’s drinking water supply without town authorization.
Department of Public Works Director (DPW) Robert Peirent told Reminder Publications the landscaping firm is currently being investigated by the MassDEP for connecting one of its hydro-seeding trucks to a fire hydrant, which could have contaminated the town’s water supply.
“This created the potential for contamination of our water supply since no backflow preventer was installed and their hose was connected to their hydro-seeding tank,” he added. “Fortunately, the connection was detected and eliminated by our staff before any problems developed.”
Peirent declined to state the name of the landscaping firm and the location of the incident due to the MassDEP’s ongoing investigation. However, he did note that the fire hydrant was located in a residential area.
“The connection was made on the end of a dead end street,” he noted. “The connection was high pressure connection – there were things in place that made it very difficult for water to go the wrong direction. The way he was connected to the hydrant reduced the chance that there was contamination.
Just to be safe, the DPW also flushed the entire piece of the water system, although the state and the town confirmed that there was not any “imminent concern,” Peirent said.
The town contacted the MassDEP as soon as it learned the news of the unauthorized connection, he noted.
“We both assessed whether or not there was a need to do anything more than what we did,” Peirent said. “We both jointly concluded that, ‘No, we had addressed it quickly.’”
He explained that if the owner of the landscaping firm contacted the town about utilizing the hydrant and was approved, the town would have installed a backflow preventer – a device that that prevents harmful materials such as chemicals and grass seed from entering into the town’s water system.
Peirent said the town would have also installed a flow meter to determine how much water was being used to charge the landscaping firm for using town water.
He added that the town is required under state regulations to look for potential cross connections – locations where contamination might occur. If a cross connection area is found, the next step is to install a backflow preventer and test the device once or twice per year.
“If another tank with really nasty chemicals in it hooked up without us knowing, our water’s unprotected. And what if we had a water break up the line or what if there was a fire and the Fire Department hooked up to another hydrant in a [nearby] neighborhood, that would create a vacuum and that would suck his whole tank of whatever was in it into our drinking water. And that’s where it gets serious,” Cross Connection Head Controller Inspector Mark Langone said.
He added that a lack of education about connecting to town water sources is a main factor that contributes to incidents such as these.
Langone said typically the Fire Department and the DPW are the only groups authorized to use a fire hydrant.
A similar incident in Somerset caused a three-day drinking water ban in 2010, Peirent said. The company responsible was fined nearly $19,000 by MassDEP.
He noted that the risk for contamination takes place about once a year.
“This was probably one of the first times when it was as obvious as a potential threat,” he added. “Sometimes somebody might try to connect to a hydrant to fill their pool. It’s the same thing; they’re supposed to tell us about it. We will sell them the water if they want to buy it from us and we will install a backflow preventer.”