SOUTHWICK — The Water Commission believes that educating residents could change the negative perception of the town’s water quality and water department policies, a feeling that was discussed during a recent presentation by the chair of the Master Plan Implementation Committee to the commissioners.
“This tells me that slightly more than one quarter of the population believed the water is unacceptable from a quality standpoint,” said MPIC Chair Norman Cheever during a presentation to the commission about the results of the survey conducted in 2022 to guide the Master Plan Committee while they develop the master plan.
Cheever offered the results of the survey, its methodology and some of the comments residents made about water quality.
When the survey was taken in 2022, of the approximately 900 residents who responded to questions about water quality, 597 said they use town water. Of those, Cheever said, 442 had a positive perception of the water quality, and 155 didn’t.
“What this chart says is behind potholes; water systems were the number two negative response from the big survey,” he said, referring to the chart that broke down which town government operations residents were dissatisfied with the most. Road maintenance was number one.
Cheever then began reading responses from those who took the survey.
There were 60 of them, but he only read aloud 30.
- “My water tastes terrible and has dangerous levels of haloacetic acids” — which are a group of disinfection byproducts formed when chlorine reacts with organic matter in water during the disinfection process. “I have to buy bottled water to drink and cook with. Yet, I have no choice but to bathe and do my laundry in contaminated water.”
- “The water needs to be filtered better.”
- “The water situation in Southwick is awful. I hope something can be done in the near future. Water bands are awful.”
- “Chemicals in our drinking water are very distressing. I would like to be notified via phone alerts when the water is affected with cancer-causing chemicals and not by letter weeks later.”
- “Why are we selling water to other towns especially in drought conditions?”
As Cheever continued reading through the comments, he was cut off by Water Commission chair Edward Johnson.
“How many more you got of these, Norm?” Johnson asked, clearly irritated. “I’m not going to sit around and listen to this. I drink the water single day. We send out reports, and where there’s a chemical, the people are notified right away. We’ve got a good water system … don’t tell me there’s chemicals in there. Don’t tell me that.”
And about the comment that Southwick sells its water, Johnson also took issue with that.
“We don’t sell water to other towns. I don’t know where you’re getting that information from. We do not sell water to any other towns,” Johnson said.
Assistant DPW Director and Stormwater Coordinator Jon Goddard broke in to offer his perspective about the survey comments.
“I can see that a lot of these comments are inflammatory. We are talking about a segment of the public that chose to respond to the questionnaires, right? And that doesn’t by any stretch of imagination capture everything, but it captures something here,” Goddard said, adding with a long pause, “I do think we see a reflection, and if you’ll pardon me using the term, but I think it’s fair in this form here – of ignorance.”
Residents, he said, probably don’t know of the hard work and the regulations that are in place that allow residents “consistent, reliable, clean, and safe water that’s not reflected at all though what we see here.”
Goddard also said he was sure there were a few positive comments in places.
Minutes later, during the discussion, Cheever said there weren’t any positive comments.
“I stand corrected,” Goddard said.
About the water’s taste, Johnson said the chemical smell usually only happens in the summer when water use is high, and the town taps into the water from the Springfield Water and Sewer Commission.
He also recounted when Springfield’s water was overchlorinated.
“We had to straighten out the mess because it was their water. We paid for it, but we had to suffer the consequences,” Johnson said, adding that the town has “cut way back” on Springfield water.
Cheever then read another resident comment: “I fail to see the relationship between frequent annual outdoor water use bans and flow rate of the Westfield River. You have been using the same explanatory memo for years, predicting that other towns will eventually have the same water use license renewals with the state. However, I don’t see that happening.”
“Well, that is happening … West Springfield and Agawam had a bye [new water withdrawal permits]. That bye is over,” Johnson said, still irritated, which Cheever responded to.
“Just as you are frustrated, these people are frustrated, and that’s why they made these comments,” Cheever said.
Johnson said much of the frustration was from the frequent mandatory water bans that occur nearly every summer.
“It’s not just water restrictions. It’s water quality,” he said, adding later, “I understand your frustration, but you need to understand there’s a lot of frustration out there in the moment.”
Commissioner David Meczywor said education was the key to overcoming the negative perception, especially about the water bans.
“I can go along with the fact that we need education because all those comments are basically [because] they don’t understand that we have plenty of water in town, but we have [a withdrawal] permit that limits us on how much we can take. People just don’t want to hear it,” Meczywor said.
The town’s new withdrawal permit is currently being drafted, but it’s really up to the state’s Department of Environmental Protection.
“The permit is expired. We’re operating under the old permit. The DEP will tell us how much water we can draw when that new permit comes out,” Meczywor said.
For those residents who want to keep a green lawn in the summer, Meczywor said they might consider drilling a well on their property.
“If you want to keep it watered, you’re going to have to drill a well because we provide clean drinking water, not irrigation water,” he said.
Meczywor also said that residents could eliminate water bans if they use less water.
“We’re using 30% more water per person than we’re supposed to be using,” he said, adding that transparency is important, which Goddard spoke of.
“Maybe this is an appropriate time for us to look at our education and outreach. How do we convey messages better? How do we convey the message that Southwick historically has been an award-winning water quality institution,” Goddard said.
Johnson proposed publishing a chart every quarter as a way to educate the public.
“I’m fully on board with outreach and education, and I think the perception of our water quality would go up if we threw other towns under the bus and show them what they’re going through,” he said.
Meczywor wrapped the discussion after he and Johnson asked Goddard to come up with some ideas for communicating better with residents.
“I really like it because it would make our job a lot easier. If we start changing perceptions. We get those comments all the time, and they come in here, and they say, ‘Oh, I spent $5,000 putting in a lawn, and now it’s turning brown.’ Well, you know, we’re the drinking water people,” he said.
