Drinking water source gets the all-clear

The grisly discovery of two rotting animal carcasses -- a calf and a coyote, which some thought was a dog -- tied to a tree on the banks of the Artichoke Reservoir in West Newbury has heightened anxieties about animal cruelty and raised questions about the safety of a prime drinking water source for the area.

A snowshoer who stumbled upon the mutilated remains in late February suspected animal cruelty and alerted local authorities, who called in state environmental police. Together, they determined the skeletons were of a stillborn calf and a coyote, legally killed on private land by a young licensed hunter who then used the animals for coyote bait, according to Lisa Capone, spokeswoman for the state's Executive Office of Environmental Affairs.

Such baiting is legal, she said. Still, the case left lingering questions.

"I find it hard to believe that dead animals can be legally left to rot next to public drinking water," wrote Newburyport resident Robert Gaudet, who gave the Globe a copy of a letter he recently sent state environmental officials.

Newburyport's animal control officer, Thomasine Ambrose, was similarly unnerved.

"I wanted to know if that was somebody's dog," she said, describing how two local veterinarians, who viewed snapshots of the carcasses at her request, initially thought the coyote might have been a greyhound.

Either way, Ambrose said, "I don't think the bodies should be that close to the water supply, draining blood."

Newburyport has a lot at stake. Although 90 percent of the Artichoke Reservoir is in West Newbury, thousands of people in neighboring Newburyport depend on it for drinking water. The Artichoke, along with the Indian Hill Reservoir, which is entirely within West Newbury, provides 80 percent of Newburyport's water, but only about a third of West Newbury's, according to water officials in both communities.

So did the dead carcasses left by a hunter pose a threat to the area's drinking water? On this issue, both communities' water agency chiefs agree: They did not.

"Aesthetically, it's horrible. It's not something someone wants to see next to the water supply," said Paul Colby, Newburyport's water superintendent. "But in reality, it's low-impact, although we don't want to see a slaughterhouse next to the reservoir."

Colby said any bacteria that may have seeped into the water from the animals would be diluted in the 300- million gallon reservoir, and all water pumped out for drinking is regularly tested and treated to remove contaminants.

A decade ago, Newburyport voters approved a detailed ordinance spelling out many activities prohibited on or near reservoirs, such as swimming, boating, riding horses, storing animal manure, or burying dead animals . The ordinance, however, is silent on hunting or placing hunting bait near the small portion of reservoir land in the city, and it only covers reservoirs -- or the portion of reservoirs -- that are within Newburyport. The only other reservoir in Newburyport is Bartlett Spring Pond.

In more rural West Newbury, where much of the Artichoke is on private property and near farm land, leaders have repeatedly failed to agree on a reservoir protection rule for voters to consider.

"People become apprehensive at Town Meeting when they think their rights are going to be restricted," said Scott Wolke, chairman of West Newbury's Board of Water Commissioners.

About eight years ago, West Newbury voters approved some protections -- prohibiting septic systems, landfills, and the storage of other hazardous waste for the private land around the town's well field, which is near the Newburyport line off Route 113. The well supplies about two-thirds of West Newbury's drinking water, Wolke said. The ground-water protection bylaw was "somewhat controversial" when it was passed, he added.

"We know it has to be done and we intend to deal with it," Wolke said. "The surface water protection bylaw always gets put on the back burner because we have to deal with other issues and it's hard to get the people to come together."

The animal carcasses case highlighted an uneasy alliance between the two communities over drinking water, but it is hardly an unusual one, said David Terry, head of the drinking water program at the state's Department of Environmental Protection.

Of the 516 community water supply systems in the state, 170 rely on water sources -- reservoirs or wells -- that are partially or entirely in another community, Terry said.

"Given that ground water does not recognize boundaries, we ask the host community to approach their neighbors and ask them to adopt similar bylaws to protect the ground water," Terry said. "That does not always happen."

Still, community water supply systems are safe, he said, because the state requires rigorous testing and treatment. For instance, the state requires the community water supply for Newburyport and West Newbury to be regularly tested for 83 potential contaminants, he said.

For the past three years -- the most recent data available -- there has not been a "single violation of any standard," he added.

Kay Lazar can be reached at klazar@globe.com.