SHARON WATER MANAGEMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE (WMAC) MEETING MINUTES FOR APRIL 6, 2006
Prepared by Paul Lauenstein
Present at meeting:
WMAC Chairman Michael Birschbach; WMAC members Paul Lauenstein, Cliff Towner, Len Sekuler and Mike Sherman; DPW Superintendent Eric Hooper; Selectman David Grasfield; Sharon High School Representative Emily Tran
1.
Replacement of well pump motors for energy efficiency
2. Precipitation, groundwater and the
Atlantic White Cedar Swamp
3. Permit fees for High
Efficiency Toilets
4. Approval of 3/9/06 minutes
5. Next meeting scheduled for Thursday, May 11, 2006 at 7:30 PM
Detailed Minutes for the 4/6/06
WMAC Meeting
1.
Replacement
of well pump motors for energy efficiency
In light of rapidly increasing energy costs, Cliff Towner suggested converting the motors at the wells with more efficient Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) motors that would use less energy.
Eric Hooper said he checked with NSTAR, and they indicated that replacing the motors could not be cost-justified.
2. Precipitation,
groundwater and the Atlantic White Cedar Swamp
Cliff Towner said precipitation in March had been extremely low. He said many vernal pools were dry.
David Grasfield announced that Cliff Towner would be
conducting tours for interested citizens to see evidence of insufficient water
in Sharon’s local ecosystems.
Cliff Towner said that in 2004 Sharon’s groundwater, which was very low at the end of March, was rescued by 13” of rain in April and May. He warned that conditions were again very dry this year, and without extraordinary rainfall in April and May, there could be serious consequences for Sharon’s water supply.
Cliff Towner pointed out that the graph of the Islamic Center monitoring wells’ water levels has changed in recent years. He said the annual cycle used to have a characteristic “U” shape, but it now looks more like a “V”. He suggested that this shift is significant, especially in view of the fact that the Islamic Center is close to the cedar swamp.
Cliff Towner said that Sharon received 62” of rain in 2005, well above average, but much of that ran off or evaporated without recharging groundwater. Already the water table is dropping after only a month or two of dry weather. He said Sharon’s wetlands, which store water and release it gradually to Sharon’s drinking water aquifers, have been significantly impacted by the unusually dry spring weather and lack of snowmelt.
Eric Hooper responded that he had recently attended a groundwater workshop. He said runoff in cubic feet per second per square mile of drainage area (cfsm) is less in an area like Sharon with granite outcrops and relatively shallow topsoil. He said water accumulates in deep finger-like aquifers such as Beaver Brook Valley.
Eric Hooper said too much water is being let out of Lake Massapoag.
Michael Birschbach asked what can be done. Should lawn irrigation restrictions be imposed earlier this year?
Cliff Towner replied that until Sharon’s leaders admit that we have a problem, nothing will be done. He said all the water that recharges the Beaver Brook aquifer, Billings Brook, and the Canoe River comes from one big sandpile in the vicinity of Sharon Heights. He said about 300 million gallons out of the 600 million gallons that Sharon pumps annually is piped to the far corners of town and does not return to the aquifers that supply our town wells.
Cliff Towner added that runoff from the entire Rattlesnake Hill area is diverted to Massapoag Brook and does not recharge Sharon’s aquifers.
Cliff Towner said the Atlantic Cedar Swamp west of Lake Massapoag overlies the sand pile that feeds our town wells. The swamp consists of about six feet of Freetown muck, a kind of peat resulting from the accumulation of centuries of cedar needles. The peat and swamp plants that grow in it remove atmospheric pollutants such as mercury that precipitate with rain. Without the Freetown muck, these pollutants would contaminate our drinking water. The problem is that the swamp is drying out, causing the Freetown muck and its associated flora to lose their ability to remove contaminants.
Cliff Towner said the swamp is not being protected. Drainage ditches built in 1964 to ameliorate wet basements in Sharon Heights, coupled with increasing pumping of well water to new developments that do not drain back to the aquifers from which the water originated, have reduced the amount of water in the swamp, causing cedars to die and changing the plant life in the swamp. He explained that the new developments tend to have expansive lawns with automatic irrigation systems. He challenged the right of these homeowners to wreck Sharon’s environment and its water supply. He added that Sucker Brook is drying up, as is the swamp behind Lakeview Street.
Eric Hooper agreed that development in the far corners of town has removed water from the aquifers without providing any return flow. However, he pointed out that the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection has given Sharon’s water supply awards for excellence. He added that he thought too much water is being let out of Lake Massapoag. He said that, according to USGS, 0.17 cubic feet per second per square mile of watershed area (cfsm) is the expected runoff from terrain like that around the lake. Given the approximately 3 square mile basin contributing runoff to the lake, 0.17 cfsm translates to 0.5 cubic feet per second (cfs), only 1/3 of the minimum of 1.5 cfs typically released from the lake.
Cliff Towner replied if less water were released from the lake, it would turn green with algae and smell bad, as it did in the late 1980’s. Cliff Towner added that in the past, there were usually open areas in the middle of Lake Massapoag even in the coldest parts of winter. In recent years the lake has frozen over completely with no open areas.
Cliff Towner reported that Greg Meister and he had taken the initiative to add rip-rap to the drainage ditch to hold back water from flowing out of the swamp, without which conditions in the cedar swamp would be even drier. Cliff Towner said the boards in the Beaver Brook dam hold back the water in Beaver Brook valley and help retain water in the sand pile. He said the elevation of the swamp is about 260 feet above sea level.
Michael Birschbach asked if there was some action the WMAC should recommend to the Water Commissioners to improve the situation.
Cliff Towner said the right thing to do would be to recommend banning in-ground sprinkler systems. However, he saw no point in doing so because he doubted that the Water Commissioners would do so because they are more interested in the revenues from the sale of water than the health and proper functioning of the cedar swamp.
Eric Hooper said Cliff Towner had failed to document his assertions. Eric Hooper added that Cliff Towner discounted the Water Department’s monitoring well data, which indicate no significant long term trend in groundwater levels.
Cliff Towner questioned the significance of the monitoring well data, especially data from monitoring wells near municipal wells that influence the water table.
Eric Hooper commented that the cone of influence of municipal wells does influence the monitoring well data from nearby locations, but he said many of the monitoring wells are outside the area of influence of the municipal wells, and those do not show any significant trend in groundwater levels.
Mike Sherman suggested monitoring the wetlands, but he confessed that he did not know what has been done in the past to document conditions in the cedar swamp.
Len Sekuler pointed out that the wetlands are the responsibility of the Conservation Commission.
Cliff Towner replied that the Sharon Conservation Commission has invited USGS to come to Sharon to assess the cedar swamp. He added that the Conservation Commission has already gathered a considerable amount of data.
Emily Tran asked if new development halts, would the water level in the swamp stop going down.
Cliff Towner replied that the next development coming to Sharon, Avalon Bay, will have its own private well for irrigation water, and will have no effect on the cedar swamp. He said the problem is related to expansive irrigation systems in remote areas that do not drain back to the sub-basin of origin.
Emily Tran asked if green roofs would help.
Paul Lauenstein replied that although green roofs confer many benefits, such as purification and attenuation of runoff, energy savings related to insulation, and better roof membrane longevity, they also transpire more than a conventional roof, so they would probably not help recharge the cedar swamp.
Mike Sherman asked if an outdoor watering ban would be an appropriate response to the dry conditions this spring.
Michael Birschbach asked Eric Hooper if Eric Hooper would recommend a ban on lawn irrigation.
Eric Hooper replied that an outdoor watering ban would engender a considerable amount of political pushback. He added that it would be difficult to provide justification for a ban.
Cliff Towner suggested recommending a reduction in the lawn watering restriction from two hours to one hour, twice a week. However, he added that this proposal had previously failed at Town Meeting.
Eric Hooper replied that this would not give homeowners sufficient time to complete cycling through all the zones of their sprinkler systems, and would only provide superficial wetting that would quickly evaporate, rather than deep soaking that would benefit the grass.
Paul Lauenstein suggested recommending that watering restrictions be limited to 2 hours once per week instead of twice per week as is currently allowed.
Eric Hooper said this approach would work better than one hour twice per week.
Cliff Towner said only 1” of water per week is needed to maintain a healthy lawn through the summer. He pointed out that Sharon receives almost that much as natural rainfall, suggesting that much of the water used in Sharon for irrigation is unnecessary.
Mike Sherman said higher summer demand for water is particularly problematic due to greatly increased evaporative losses and occasional dry spells, which, coupled with elevated demand, cause the water table to drop significantly in summer.
Len Sekuler asked what is being done to enforce existing restrictions. He said scofflaws waste a lot of water and set a bad example.
Paul Lauenstein asked if enforcement could be stepped up. He also asked if doing so would make an appreciable difference in the amount of water used in summer.
Eric Hooper said enforcement could be stepped up, but he
doubted it would do much good. He added that the political cost of doing so
might not be worth the minor savings in water.
Michael Birschbach asked Eric Hooper what impact the new well sites might have on the cedar swamp.
Eric Hooper replied that two sites (the NSTAR site and the cemetery) are downstream of Wells 2, 3 and 4 in the Beaver Brook valley, and would not impact the cedar swamp. The Islamic Center site might be more problematic depending on the amount of water withdrawn there.
Eric Hooper added that the Avalon Bay development would add about 6 million gallons per year to Sharon’s demand for water.
Cliff Towner pointed out that the impact of Avalon bay’s demand would be greater than homes in the Beaver Brook sub-basin because the development would be sewered to Deer island and none of the water would be returned to the ground.
Mike Sherman said that the WMAC should come up with a recommendation for dealing with the cedar swamp issue. He suggested that there are a variety of approaches to the problem of unnecessary irrigation, such as sophisticated lawn irrigation system controllers. He also commented that indoor water use is rising.
Eric Hooper disputed that indoor water use is rising. He said the minutes of the previous meeting should be amended to say that indoor water use appears to be rising from the graph of monthly pumping. He said the data do not support the conclusion that indoor water use is rising. He added that lawn irrigation systems should be inspected for leaks and spray direction on an annual basis. He suggested that the WMAC should consider recommending annual licensing of all automatic irrigation systems and require leak and spray inspection, adequate controllers, etc. as conditions of obtaining a license or a license renewal. He added that this would improve water efficiency and save homeowners money.
Mike Sherman suggested that a licensing system would be more politically palatable than an outright ban on all lawn irrigation.
Len Sekuler said he likes the idea of using soil moisture sensors to minimize unnecessary lawn irrigation.
Cliff Towner asked Eric Hooper if water pumped directly from Well #6 to the cedar swamp would have to be reported to DEP on the Annual Statistical Report. He said that pumping water from a hydrant on Chase Drive into the Cedar Swamp could remove iron and manganese, and at least some of the water would be recaptured from the aquifer without spending millions on an iron/manganese filtration system, and help keep the swamp hydrated in the process.
Eric Hooper commented that when a new development goes in there is an opportunity to improve on recharge because evapo-transpiration is reduced due to removal of natural vegetation. However, the intermittent nature of the rate of recharge makes this strategy problematical.
Cliff Towner observed that Sharon has had 80” of rain since January of 2005, which is well above average. Given that fact, he asked why the swamp is exhibiting symptoms of drying out.
3.
Permit fees for High Efficiency Toilets
Paul Lauenstein reported that, in the process of trying to get a new high efficiency toilet for his home, he discovered that the Sharon Building Inspector charges a permit fee of $30 plus $8 per toilet to inspect any new toilet installations. He suggested that this fee be reduced or waived for anyone installing a high Efficiency Toilet using less than 1.28 gallons per flush.
4. Approval of 3/9/06 minutes
The minutes of March 9, 2006 were unanimously
approved with minor alterations.
5. Next meeting scheduled for Thursday, May 11, 2006 at 7:30 PM