Date: 10/19/2022
The town of Longmeadow does not have a water resource problem.
Why are the Select Board and Town Manager (town) attempting to restrict water usage by including the following in Town Meeting warrant Article 20 that the town may base a restriction on water usage upon?
Declaration of a State of Drought declared by the Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs (SEEA) in consultation with the Massachusetts Drought Management Task Force (MDMTF).
Longmeadow water is supplied by the Springfield Water and Sewer Commission (SWSC) which also supplies four other communities. Since 1986, the SWSC has been regulated as a water registrant as is the MWRA (Quabbin). A water registrant and its customers are not subject to water use restrictions by the SEEA and MMDMTF.
The town should not restrict water usage based on state entities that have no jurisdiction and historically have not considered individual water reservoir levels?
Longmeadow’s water comes from the SWSC’s Cobble Mountain Reservoir. The water resource level of Cobble Mountain was normal all summer and into the fall. SWSC can invoke water use restrictions on Longmeadow based on resource issues and equipment issues per their contact.
The SSEA/MDMTF had a Level Two State of Drought for the Connecticut River Valley from June 15 to Oct. 6 of this year.
It would be appalling, ironic and pandering if the town were to invoke a water use restriction based on a State of Drought as declared by the SEEEA/MDMTF this summer or in the future when SWSC had no resource issues.
It would be wrong for Longmeadow to invoke a water restriction or have the ability to while East Longmeadow, Agawam, Ludlow and Springfield that draw from the same source have no restrictions as was the case this summer when the DEP/MDMTF had a Level 2 State of Drought declaration for the area. Quabbin’s customers such as Newton, Waltham, Lexington and Boston had no water restrictions this summer.
The other provisions (below) of enabling the Town to restrict water usage are fine if the Town abides by only the preamble in the Warrant that states, “may declare a State of Water Supply Conservation upon a determination that conservation measures are appropriate to ensure an adequate supply of water for drinking and fire protection”.
In conclusion, the unnecessary warrant provision above regarding the Town taking action based on a “SEEA / MDMTF Drought Declaration” should be deleted by amendment by the voters at the Town Meeting next week. Any water resource issue in our Cobble Mountain supply would be handled by the SWSC under contract and is covered under the second point above.
Once the provision is deleted, I would personally support the warrant.
Tom Shea
Longmeadow
