High and dry
With rise in workers, residents projected along I-495, water may hold the key for keeping growth on track
There's a wall of water between the communities along Interstate 495 and their economic future.
The region is expected to continue attracting more companies, workers, and residents in the coming years. But that growth is also projected to slam up against water-related limits unless supplies are conserved or increased, said officials. The problem is already in sight, some say.
"We have all this residential construction, but we haven't received any additional water," said Shrewsbury Town Manager Dan Morgado. "I've had discussions with companies and the first question I need to ask them, particularly if they are in biotech, is, 'How much water do you need?' "
In the region stretching along I-495 from Littleton to Wrentham, demand on public water systems is expected to rise from 51 million gallons a day in 2005, the latest numbers available, to 62 million in 2030, according to a recent study published by the 495/MetroWest Corridor Partnership and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council. Steady growth for the I-495 region is driving demand, the study said.
Between 1990 and 2000, the area's population swelled by 12 percent to 512,067, according to the MAPC, and about 100,000 more people are expected to arrive by 2020. An additional 40,500 employees from outside the region are also expected to work in I-495 businesses by 2030, boosting the total workforce to 322,300.
Municipal water systems won't be able to keep up if they don't evolve, according to Paul Matthews, executive director of the 495/MetroWest business group. "Those towns over 20 years ago were either rural or much smaller," he said. "Now a lot of them are bumping up against their infrastructure."
Of the 32 towns in the study, nine experienced median water-usage increases of 10 percent over the past decade. Seventeen towns in the study decreased their water usage by a similar percentage, often because they conserved to stay within state limits while handling increased demand. In six towns, figures were unavailable because residents use private wells.
Some towns are already squeezing efficiencies out of their antiquated water and waste-water systems. Companies are being compelled to install small treatment plants to handle their requirements, adding expenses in a state where business overhead can be high. As far back as 1998, when
"We needed to consider all kinds of recycling and water reclamation," said Ann Hurd, Intel's spokeswoman.
Insufficient waste-water treatment capacity in Marlborough has led the city to scale down plans for its industrial base.
"It has us handcuffed," said City Council president Arthur Vigeant. "Because we've been at capacity, we've been very cautious as we've been issuing sewer hookup permits."
Shrewsbury's population grew by a third, to about 33,000, between 1990 and 2000, Morgado said. During that time, the town's water supply remained the same. "The biggest problem we've had over the past ten years has been a disconnect between the value of water resources relative to economic development," said Morgado. "I don't have any capacity for economic development."
Specialists said the problem is that, except for a few communities served by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, most local supplies are drawn from municipal or private wells. Towns are therefore dependent on aquifers and the rain that recharges them.
The combination of pressure on ground-water supplies and hot summers has led to more I-495 communities declaring droughts and limits on water usage in recent years, said Kathy Baskin, director of water policy at the state's Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. "Less rain really means something to that area," Baskin said. "What goes in is available later to get out."
Yet the region's growth is also preventing water from entering watersheds. By 1999, 11 percent of the area was covered by impervious surfaces, including parking lots and roads, the partnership's study found. Rather than allowing rain to percolate underground, asphalt diverts storm water into streams and rivers that flow into the ocean.
"In these suburban communities, it's vital to keep the storm-water runoff to recharge the aquifers or you have a water problem," said Matthews.
Matthews said the partnership was pushing communities to adopt building techniques that steer water underground, such as permeable lots and landscaping designed to collect rainfall. But those measures are partial. Ultimately, he said, towns are going to have to upgrade their pumping and treatment facilities.
Last year, a coalition of engineers, planners, and water suppliers issued a study that said $8.6 billion of improvements between 2003 and 2022 would be necessary in Massachusetts to replace aging pipes and treatment plants.
Ratepayers would foot most of the bill, said Jennifer Pederson, executive director of the Massachusetts Water Works Association, a sponsor of the study. Decades ago, the federal government gave towns grants or low-interest loans to build waste-water facilities, she said, but that money won't be forthcoming again.
Marlborough's two waste-water treatment plants, both around 35 years old, are working at capacity and need to be replaced, for a total cost of $110 million, said Ronald LaFreniere, the public works commissioner. Vigeant said the city's politicians are struggling to find state aid to help pay for the work.
State caps on water usage are also forcing up prices, said Pederson. If demand from residents and companies forces a town to break its cap, officials need to cut water use. Often that means limiting outdoor watering, fixing old pipes, and keeping runoff that washes through gutters from receiving treatment it doesn't need.
Shrewsbury uses about 3.9 million gallons a day, about 150,000 gallons more than state environmental rules allow, said Morgado, who is examining ways for the town to meet its target.
This comes at a time when rates are rising in some communities. Average household water and sewer rates in the MWRA system, which serves Boston and 60 surrounding communities with water from the Quabbin and Wachusett reservoirs, increased from an average of $1,006 a year in 2006 to $1,070 last year, according to a survey by its advisory board. That's more than a 6 percent increase.
Something is going to have to change if the cost of water keeps outpacing inflation, said Wrentham Town Administrator John McFeeley. Patterns in his town are unsustainable, he said.
The Wrentham Village Premium Outlets, a sprawling mall at I-495 and Route 1A, has its own water-recycling facility, which allowed it to use only 250,000 gallons of water last August, McFeeley said. The nearby Cracker Barrel restaurant used 250,000 gallons in the same month, while the Uno Chicago Grill next door used 140,000 gallons.
The figures show that Wrentham can't keep welcoming businesses that, unlike the mall, depend on town water, he said.
"So far, we're pretty lucky down here for having several wells online and being able to rotate the wells," said McFeeley. "There's going to come a day when we're going to have to crack down."
