On the face of it, Framingham’s proposal to use federal stimulus money to develop new wells and a treatment facility for drinking water looks sensible enough. After all, there is a crying need for new infrastructure in this country, and much of Uncle Sam’s $780 billion in stimulus money is supposed to go toward projects like this.
But not this one.
As a member of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, Framingham already has all the infrastructure and water it needs. For several years, town officials have been pushing for the new wells to reduce the amount Framingham has to pay the MWRA for water from Quabbin Reservoir. Because the MWRA’s costs are largely fixed, the reduction in Framingham’s payments would shift an estimated $3.8 million in costs to other member communities - driving up the rates they have to charge homeowners and businesses.
Nor is Framingham the only town considering this “I’ve got mine, Jack’’ approach. If other MWRA municipalities see Framingham get away with it, the temptation will be great to do the same, further increasing rates in places with no alternative to MWRA water. The temptation will be all the greater if the towns know they can finance their own water projects with assistance from the federal stimulus package.
Massachusetts needs more regional planning, not less. Towns shouldn’t conspire against their neighbors as if they were medieval duchies. Framingham’s proposal would undermine one of the state’s most durable and effective models for regional cooperation. Part of the MWRA’s $600 million MetroWest Tunnel project was the construction of four riser shafts specifically to provide Framingham with a reliable water supply. All MWRA communities have been sharing in the cost of those shafts. Now Framingham is proposing to walk away from some of its share of those costs, incurred on its own behalf, while the other communities continue to pay.
The Framingham proposal threatens the environment as well as regionalism. The state worries that the town’s wells could lower the level of Lake Cochituate, making it difficult for boats to move from one part of the lake to another and impeding the use of the lake’s public boat ramp. A lower water level would also increase sunlight at greater depths, spurring the growth of the non-native milfoil, an aquatic plant that plagues so many lakes and ponds. The wells could also severely reduce the flow of the already threatened Sudbury River.
State Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles should require extensive mitigation steps against consequences like these that will raise the project’s cost to the town and make it reconsider its benefits. But it would save everyone time and bureaucratic energy if Governor Patrick would simply get the word out: No project that just duplicates existing infrastructure deserves any state or federal aid.
For one government (town) to use another government’s (federal) money to avoid its obligations to an agency created by a third (state) government is a scheme that shouldn’t be allowed to fly.
