This year marks the 100th anniversary of the beginning of construction on the first phase of the Quabbin Reservoir — the massive public works project that involved the flooding of four former towns to create a vast water supply for Metropolitan Boston.
Many people in eastern Massachusetts don’t give much thought to where their water — considered one of the highest quality public water supplies in the nation — comes from, but without the Quabbin, the Boston area would likely have never grown to its current size and stature. Abundant clean public water enables housing creation and economic development.
One of the great ironies of the Quabbin is that the communities in the watershed have no access to the pristine public water that they steward. Some towns operate small public systems that supply water to residents, but many people instead rely solely on private well water that is too often contaminated. This can cause illnesses ranging from minor gastroenteritis to deadly cancers.
We can do better for the Quabbin towns, but also for all the rural towns in Massachusetts that rely on well water. Contamination from synthetic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly known as PFAS, or “forever chemicals,” is extensive in Massachusetts, as is contamination from organic substances like coliform bacteria, radon, arsenic, and manganese.
A study earlier in this decade conducted by RCAP Solutions and funded by The Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts found that nearly a third of wells tested had contaminants exceeding state limits, compared to only 4% of public water supplies. This is a clear case of regional inequity, where urban and suburban community residents can drink their water worry-free, while those in rural towns run an enormous risk by doing so.
Well water can be remediated so that it is safe. In some instances, it can be as simple as purchasing a small filter for the tap or making minor repairs to the well, while in others much more extensive and costly interventions are required to prevent potentially more expensive health care expenses downstream.
At the end of the day, access to water is what makes a home livable — even more so than electricity. Whatever the solution may be in any single case, getting ahead of the problem systematically is critically important. This can be achieved by testing well water for contaminants. Unfortunately, many people living on well water are not aware that this is something that should be done periodically. For others, it isn’t the knowledge gap, but the cost of testing, which, while not exorbitant, can still be too costly for families on a budget.
This situation demands a solution, and the only effective one must involve government taking on more of a role by developing minimum statewide standards. Relying on variable and often outdated local regulations and households’ presumed knowledge of private wells leaves too many to fall through the cracks. The state’s investment in developing a private wells program will be pennies on the dollar compared to the existing cost of building and maintaining public water systems.
For local officials, enforceability is a top concern. Statewide standards would give local boards of health the authority and backing they need to enforce private well regulations consistently and create more clarity for homeowners around testing. Many towns have adopted their own rules, but enforcement is uneven without clear state standards.
A bill in the Massachusetts House of Representatives (H.900) would begin to close the gap between public and private well water by developing a set of statewide health-based standards and requirements to test water quality on properties with private wells. Testing would be required before the sale of a home. If contaminants are found to exceed state standards, the parties could negotiate the remediation approach and whether the buyer or seller would cover the costs.
A similar approach exists in Title 5, the Massachusetts regulation that requires homeowners to have their septic systems inspected prior to sale. If the septic system fails, and thus creates an environmental danger, the seller must repair the system before completing the sale.
Additional funding to treat PFAS is proposed through an amendment filed in the State Senate to the governor’s environmental bond bill introduced last year (S.2542). It is essential to provide financial relief for homeowners drinking contaminated water.
It is only practical to establish comparable standards to ensure that private wells, holding the water that people actually consume rather than discharge, are properly maintained just as septic systems are.
Massachusetts residents should take pride in the quality of their public water supply, while acknowledging that more needs to be done for our rural communities so that they can have the same privilege of safe drinking water.
Close to three million people in over 50 cities and towns served by the Quabbin Reservoir drink safe, high-quality water. It’s time for the Quabbin watershed communities and every other rural area in the state to also have access to good water.
Bill Pula is the chair of the Pelham Board of Health, on which he has served for three decades, and a longtime Pelham resident. Previously, he was regional director of the Quabbin and Ware Watersheds for the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.