WMAC MEETING MINUTES – JULY 10, 2008
Attendees: David Crosby – Chair; Paul Lauenstein; Rory
McGregor – Secretary; Jack Sulik; Bob Weeks
Others: Eric Hooper – Superintendent, DPW; Nancy Hammet –
Consultant to Sharon on Water Conservation Plan; Ian Cooke – Executive
Director, Neponset River Watershed Assoc (NepRWA); Nancy Fyler – town resident
and staff member at NepRWA working on Sharon Water Conservation Plan.
- The minutes from the May 22, 2008 meeting were approved as
amended and will be posted on the Town of Sharon website.
- Eric Hooper reviewed the procedures for selecting a
contractor to prepare the Town Water Master Plan. Bob Weeks reviewed the
criteria that he had proposed to evaluate the five proposals received from
potential contractors. Interviews had been conducted with the following
firms who submitted proposals: On June 19th – Environmental
Partners, Weston & Sampson, Amory Engineers; On June 26th –
ESS Group Inc in conjunction with Wright-Pierce, Comprehensive
Environmental Inc.
- General consensus was that Weston & Sampson and
Environmental Partners submitted the best proposals. The approach taken
by Weston & Sampson to construct a dynamic framework for active
management of new/changing information in evaluating choices for our
water system, among other considerations, made Weston & Sampson the
top choice. The WMAC decided that Weston & Sampson will be invited to
the next WMAC meeting to review the proposal and its sequence of
implementation before a final selection is made.
- Nancy Hammett presented her outline for how she is
assembling the Water Conservation Plan for Sharon. She distributed a
document entitled Conservation Plan Options and requested feedback from
WAMC members. Dave Crosby suggested that the WMAC needs to set a water
consumption target, perhaps 65 GPCD, which is the state water conservation
standard. Paul Lauenstein added that Sharon should also have goals for
aggregate annual water usage and especially summer water usage that are
compatible with fire safety, recreation, and healthy aquatic ecosystems.
Nancy Fyler advised that she reviewed water consumption data for Sharon
households, but could not make significant progress due to the limited
data available.
Concern was expressed about lack of incentive to conserve water at the
Avalon Bay apartments, given that individual apartments are not
sub-metered. Jack Sulik said that apartment dwellers are the most
difficult residents to encourage to conserve water. This problem should be
addressed in the Water Conservation Plan.
- Nancy Fyler provided an update on her efforts to promote
more awareness for water conservation within the Sharon community. A new
website, http://www.sharonwater.com/ is up and running; it will be linked
to the town website, which is where the WMAC and the Water Dept post their
information. The Hunter Irrigation System with built-in rain sensor is
installed at the High School football field and should serve as a model
for reduced water use. Nancy hosted an information table at the Lakeside
Concert the prior evening and spoke with over 10 families on water
conservation initiatives in Sharon. She has prepared a letter which will
go to the 10% of households with the highest annual consumption of water
to offer water audit consulting through Energy New England. A new flyer
on water conservation has been prepared which can be posted on kiosks.
There is a Water & Energy Fair scheduled for Sept 21st at
the Community Center from 1-5pm which will help to promote more awareness
for water and energy conservation. School education program is set to
launch in September.
- David Crosby and Eric Hooper met with the Town of
Stoughton concerning the proposed emergency connection between the 2
towns. Eric Hooper, Dave Crosby, Town Administrator Ben Puritz and
Selectman Joe Roach hope to present a proposal to the Stoughton Board of
Selectmen for an emergency backup connection.
- Eric Hooper advised that Sharon will also plan to meet
with the Town of Norwood concerning a proposed emergency connection
between the two towns. Paul Millet from Environmental Partners is
preparing a preliminary cost estimate for the installation of an emergency
connection.
- Eric Hooper and David Crosby mentioned that the Economic
Development Commission for Sharon is meeting with a consultant, Wright-Pierce,
concerning the plan for the development of the center of Sharon, to
include issues related to parking and waste water management. The meeting
will be held at the Community Center on Sept 16th.
- The next meeting will be Thursday, August 7th,
at the Sharon Community Center at 7:30pm.