The Massachusetts Water Resources Commission has extended the comment period on a controversial request to withdraw an additional 20 million gallons of water per day from the Quabbin Reservoir.
The new deadline is Oct. 28, giving western Massachusetts communities an additional two weeks to send in written testimony.
Danielle Burney, a spokesperson for the Water Resources Commission, said the commission heard many comments at a packed public hearing in Belchertown last week. A longer window will help the group consider the multitude of perspectives.
“Extending the public comment period will provide more people an opportunity to offer input and give the Water Resources Commission additional time to carefully consider the concerns that have been raised,” Burney wrote in a statement. “We remain committed to working with communities and ensuring their voices are heard and considered throughout this process.”
However, some legislators and Quabbin advocates say the extra comment time is not necessary. They said the 200 people who attended last week’s meeting were clear about why they opposed the proposal being made by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, a state organization that oversees the use of Quabbin Reservoir water.
Instead, they want an open discussion around the larger issue of western Massachusetts representation over regional water resources rather than a lengthened conversation around this single 20-million-gallon proposal.
“Without representation on the commission, our voice stops here,” said Lexi Dewey, a Pelham resident and Quabbin watershed steward. “And I don’t think that’s enough.”
The extended comment period elicited a mixed response from Rep. Aaron Saunders, D-Belchertown. Residents and officials of the nine communities that surround the Quabbin had short notice to attend the midday hearing and absorb the complexities of the Interbasin Transfer Act, the law governing water movement around the state.
“I got the sense that so many folks in our community were taken by surprise that Boston would take an approach to extract the water first without giving [justification],” Saunders said. “Trying to respond to that effectively in real time is very complex and difficult.”
A couple of speakers did request a longer comment period during last week’s meeting. However, Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, points out these asks were coupled with rejection.
“People who were asking for an extension were asking because they didn’t want this to happen,” Comerford said. “They wanted more time to get more voices in. My view is that they (Water Resources Commission) have the voices they need. They know this is a broken proposal and they need to act on this responsibly.”
Saunders and Comerford reiterated that MWRA’s application offers no information on the intended use and destination of the water that would be withdrawn.
“The fact remains that there is nothing in the statute that allows for one side of the equation to receive less info than the other,” Saunders said.
The MWRA currently distributes an average of 200 million gallons a day to 61 communities. The additional 20 million gallons would keep its withdrawals under the reservoir’s safe yield of 300 million gallons a day.
“It’s a taking of water that — even though the MWRA is allowed to use 300 million gallons a day of Quabbin water — it’s not their water,” Dewey said. “It belongs to the commonwealth.”
Public comments are the main way the Quabbin towns can influence the Water Resource Commission’s decisions, Dewey said. Only one of the six appointed members of the commission live in the western half of the state. That one seat is not enough representation to properly voice Quabbin community concerns, Dewey said.
“All we have is the testimony we gave and comments we sent in,” she said. “Other than that, our voices are not at the table.”
Comments can be submitted by email to vanessa.curran@mass.gov or mailed to Water Resources Commission, Attn: Vandana Rao, Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, 100 Cambridge St., Suite 900, Boston, MA 02114.
