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Photo Emily Sussman
Former selectman Bill Opel spoke out in favor of public water, noting that the yearly cost of a homeowner�s water filters and softeners is probably more expensive than the peak of the property tax impact of a town-wide water system � about $200 annually in the years 2024 through 2064. |
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Water discourse draws crowd
�This is a good point to make the decision,� town administrator says
By Emily Sussman
Banner Staff
EASTHAM � With its $75 million price tag and 20-year construction schedule, a town-wide municipal water system is �not a small project,� admitted Karl Weiss, chair of the water resources advisory board, during a presentation to residents Saturday.
Judging by the large turnout, the residents who attended the event had already surmised the enormity of the issue, but were eager to hear the details and reasoning behind the proposed project � the fate of which they will decide at next month�s Annual Town Meeting and at the town election on May 15.
And while the decision is undoubtedly the town�s to make, �this is a good point to make that decision,� Town Administrator Sheila Vanderhoef said.
Still, any decision is influenced by the powers of persuasion, and the strength of the arguments supporting public water hit the audience like a ton of bricks Saturday. As outlined by Health Agent Jane Crowley and water resources advisory board chair Karl Weiss, the health-based arguments for public water system were compelling, and even the staggering cost of the system was softened by Town Administrator Sheila Vanderhoef�s step-by-step demonstration of its relatively low annual tax impact.
Crowley and Weiss outlined the worrisome trend of declining water quality in many of the town�s 6,000 private wells, as well as the safeguards that public water could provide. Wastewater, they explained, is the chief culprit that�s been elevating nitrate and iron levels in private wells over the past 20 years. The results of the town�s elective water testing program indicate that the potentially hazardous chemical byproducts of copious toilet flushings and laundry loads � among other wastewater-producing activities � are seeping into the town�s freshwater aquifer, and by extension, its residents� wells.
Even un-metabolized drugs, Weiss said, could be finding their way into drinking water.
�It�s not a very comforting thought that I�m taking someone else�s cardiac medicine or sedatives,� he said dryly.
By contrast, public water � which would be pumped in from a handful of high-quality, rigorously inspected wells � would be more assuredly safe, Crowley and Weiss said, since nitrate levels, a benchmark for overall water quality, would be lower by virtue of being shielded from wastewater or point-source contamination. Other benefits of public water would include its availability during power outages and its capacity to provide water to fire hydrants. The rewards are also financial, the speakers said, since public water demonstrably lowers homeowners� insurance costs and increases property values.
Because the project would involve 6,000 hookups and 117 miles of pipe � a massive undertaking for any community, particularly a small town like Eastham � the construction and financing would be completed in phases over a period of 20 and 60 years, respectively, Vanderhoef said. And since those phased debts would be coming on and off-line at regular intervals, the property tax increase in any given year would be minimized, she added.
Using a color-blocked spreadsheet, Vanderhoef led the audience through those phases (see accompanying sidebar). During the years when municipal borrowing for the system is at its highest, between 2024 and 2064, the owner of a home assessed at $425,000 would be paying an extra $203 in property taxes, she estimated. She also noted that her cost estimates did not include the substantial state and federal grants and low-interest loans that the town likely would be awarded for the project.
Despite the evidence supporting the establishment of a public water system, there were a number of pointed questions from Saturday�s audience. Chief among them was why the town was not first attacking the wastewater issue � the root of the water quality problem. Weiss explained that town-wide sewering would cost more than $600 million dollars, making public water a bargain by comparison. Vanderhoef added that town-wide sewering was �probably not necessary,� and that the maximum thresholds for nitrogen contamination in estuaries (which likely will be established by the state in the coming years) could probably be achieved by implementing smaller-scale solutions, like wastewater package treatment systems.
The issue of development was also raised; some residents pointed out that densely clustered homes could be built if well water quality no longer had to be protected. Weiss had a simple answer. �If you don�t change the zoning [laws], there will be no impact.�
Another resident wondered why the town was committing itself to the entire project at one time rather than appropriating just the initial $4.5 million for the permitting and planning stage. Vanderhoef explained that because the �regulatory environment� for public water tends to change rapidly, implementing a water system piecemeal without a commitment to the whole project would open the town up to liability and complicate its overall management and implementation.
esussman@provincetownbanner.com
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Apr 19th, 2007