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Photo Elspeth Pierson
Tom Johnson proposes a cost-cutting amendment to the water system article at Special Town Meeting Monday night. |
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Water plan gets flushed
By Elspeth Pierson
Banner Correspondent
EASTHAM — Residents voted down a proposed $76 million municipal water system for the second time this year at Special Town Meeting on Monday. Though residents voted 258 to 217 in favor of the proposed system, the count was still 76 votes short of the necessary two-thirds majority. The article failed last spring by a much smaller margin.
The proposed article laid out a plan to make town water hook-ups available to all residents by the end of an 18-year installation period. Town Administrator Sheila Vanderhoef urged residents to act before water quality declines further, citing lower home insurance rates, higher property values, and water during power outages as incentives.
Voters, however, were not convinced. While most agreed that Eastham is in need of a municipal water system, the proposed plan was seen as too expensive and too vague to be approved.
Eastham resident Larry Cassan spoke for most present when he said, “The issue tonight is not the problem, it is the proposed solution.”
Tom Johnson offered an alternative solution, proposing that the article’s sum of $76 million be amended to $7 million. “We have tried to pass this for 25 years,” said Johnson. “The town doesn’t have a complete plan yet for this $76 million, and it doesn’t make sense to allocate all this money before it does.” Instead, Johnson suggested the town start by using the smaller sum to run a water main from Orleans down Route 6 to Wellfleet for an emergency back-up water supply, and waiting until the town “gets comfortable” to flesh out the system and continue with further plans.
Many in opposition to the plan mentioned the town’s over-budget experience with the funding of the elementary school as a reason why they were uncomfortable with allotting such a large sum of money to the town without seeing more concrete details and numbers.
The board of selectmen, which has been trying to pass a municipal water system since 1971, appeared frustrated by the town’s lack of faith in their plan for implementing the system.
“Don’t tell us there isn’t a plan. It might not have all the details you want to see, but there is a plan,” said Selectman Martin McDonald in frustration. Ken Collins, a long-term member of the board, has watched the price of installation for the system climb from approximately $5 million to today’s estimated $76 million over the last 35 years.
Residents were also concerned about the quality of water that a municipal system would supply. Paul Lothrop, chair of the board of health, cited the experience of other Cape towns with chlorination to argue against town water. “They will treat the water however is necessary to meet state standards,” he said. “You will be paying $100 million for chemically enhanced water.”
Several speakers also asked why the town plans to install municipal water over a wastewater treatment system. Declining water quality, they argued, is largely the result of a leaky landfill and leach field contaminants. While most focused on which system to implement first, Jim Owens was the only speaker to present an alternative. Owens explained that wastewater treatment is “not the only solution” to the problem of declining water quality.
“Look at the visitor center at the Audubon building in Wellfleet,” he said. “It has had composting toilets for 10 years. None of that sewage is going into the water.” Despite giving Owens hearty applause, however, Eastham residents did not seem ready to trade in their flush toilets.
Debate over the proposed water system lasted for over two hours before the question was called. In spite of the divisive nature of the topic, however, it was not all nail spitting in the auditorium. Bernie Caplan touched the crowd with his call for fellow senior residents to support the plan, insisting, “Loving a town means being responsible, not evasive. The least we can do to show our love for this town and our regard for those who come after us is to be sure that future generations will be able to turn on a spigot and have drinkable water.”
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Oct 4th, 2007