Northborough bringing back well water
By Ken Powers Contributing Writer

Northborough - In an eff ort to become less dependent on water supplied by the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority (MWRA), the town is in the process of bringing the Lyman Street well back into service.

"We're accepting bids to bring the Lyman Street well back online, and the award [of the contract] will be as soon as possible," Northborough Public Works Director Kara Buzanoski said Aug. 2. "I'm expecting construction to begin in about a month."

Buzanoski said when the Lyman Street well is back online it will be capable of producing as much as 250,000 gallons of water a day.

In 2000 Northborough took its wells offline because of an issue of incompatibility with the MWRA. Buzanoski said when the town took the wells offline, they did so with an eye toward eventually getting them back online.

After taking its wells offline the town began to receive all of its water from the MWRA, which has imposed several rate increases since 2001. In 2005 the town was notified of a 237 percent price increase in charges.

Buzanoski said that before deciding to purchase all of its water from the MWRA, the town produced 700,000 gallons of water a day and purchased 300,000 gallons a day from the MWRA.

The decision to bring the wells back will cost the town in terms of repairs and re-start fees, but Buzanoski said it is more economical for the town to construct treatment facilities for the wells than to continue to purchase about a million gallons of water a day from the MWRA.

Once the Lyman Street well is back online, the town will begin the bid process to bring the Brigham Street well back online. Buzanoski said the Brigham Street well, when operating a full capacity, can produce 500,000 gallons of water a day.