Water Management Advisory Committee meeting: March 15, 2007
WMAC Attendees: Paul Lauenstein, Dave Crosby, Dave Hearne, Rory McGregor
Other Attendees: Eric Hooper - DPW Chief, Joe Roach - Selectman

1. Eric advised that Well #2 and Well #6 have started operation in
preparation for summer useage. The Water Dept is checking #2 for
nitrates and #6 for
iron and manganese.

2. Further analysis of Well #6 is warranted to determine whether it
makes
sense to seek approval for increased withdrawal. Current permitted
capacity is
350K gallons per day (GPD). Safe yield of #6 is two times the
permitted
capacity or 700K GPD. The cost to build a treatment plant for the
removal of iron
and manganese is $2.5million and an annual operating cost of $150K/yr.
These
costs may compare favorably with the investment of permitting a totally
new
well.

Well #6 has excess capacity because it stands by itself compared to all
the
other town wells which draw from the same aquifer. Wells #2, #3, and
#4 are
part of the Beaver Brook aquifer and Wells #5 and #7 are part of the
Billings
Brook aquifer.

3. Water quality from Wells # 5 and #7 is good. Water from the
proposed new
well on the Gobi property, now part of the Sharon Commons project, will
be of
similar quality since it lies in the same aquifer.

4. The Town wants to do a better mass balance on the stream flow from
Lake
Massapoag. Perhaps the outflow from the lake in the summer would be
reduced as
a consequence. Investigative work is needed and may happen in the near
future.

5. The WMAC will discuss and vote on restrictions for lawn watering at
our
next meeting. Current thinking is to repeat the policy which has been
used for
the last several years, which is 2 hours on two separate evenings each
week
for each household. There was discussion about switching to morning
watering
as opposed to evening.

Reminder cards will go out in early May to all customers explaining the
watering restriction.

6. There was discussion about the need for inspection of backflow
restrictors in lawn watering systems. This should be done every 5
years. The question
is how to make sure that it happens.

7. The vendor of the acoustic leak detectors is willing to sponsor a
pilot
program at no cost to the Town for the detectors. They should be
installed at
the same time as the new radio relay water meters which are going into
each
household. The leak detectors don't cost much; the installation cost
is the
more significant factor. Paul Lauenstein wants the WMAC to recommend
our
approval to the selectmen to accept this offer. This will be come up
at our next
meeting.

8. The Annual Statistical Report shows that Town water consumption is
down
to 61 gallons per capita daily (GPCD). 65 is the recommended target
from the
Dept of Environmental Quality.

9. Eric Hooper, Joe Roach and Greg Meister will meet with personnel
from the
Sharon Memorial Park concerning the proposed exploratory well at the
Edgehill
location.

10. Next meeting is Thursday, April 12, in the Lower Hearing Room at
the
Sharon Town Hall.

Rory McGregor
Secretary