Water may flow downward, but water rates don’t. That’s the likely lesson in store for East Northfield Water Co. users, despite recent steps taken by the Northfield Selectboard to create an ad hoc Town Water Supply Advisory Committee in response to proposed rate hikes.
Municipal water rates are much on the minds of Northfield residents who don’t have a private well. That’s about 300 households for the East Northfield Water Co., and about 145 customers for the Northfield Water District, serving the central part of town. Those are both small numbers of users. In fact, John Alden, president of the East Northfield Water Co., which is still owned by Northfield Mount Hermon School, said last June, “Long-term, a water company for 300 individuals is not sustainable. The longer we fool ourselves on that, the bigger the surprise is going to be when we have to pay the bill.”
That applies to both of Northfield’s water companies, as they are equally faced with aging infrastructure and meeting the requirements of a public utility on the backs of a relatively small number of users.
And, it’s not like the East Northfield Water Co. is suddenly about to charge more than it should; rather, its rate will become comparable with the Northfield Water District, which has been gradually raising its rates to fund a planned and gradual upgrading of its pipes. In 2017, Water District Commissioner Steve Malsch said a substantial increase is necessary because the old water main system needs more frequent repairs. One major repair per year used to be the norm, Malsch said. Now, commissioners can expect more like two or three, plus typical house service leaks. “These repairs are getting more and more expensive,” he said.
Indeed, the last meeting of the East Northfield Water Co. had to be moved at the last minute from the Town Hall to Pioneer Valley Regional School because of a water main break — in the Northfield Water District, not the East Northfield Water Co.
Northfield has to look no further than Whately for an example of a small town with two small water companies: the independent Whately Water District and the town-run Whately Water Department. Talk of merging the two entities began in 2016, when a drought threatened the water district in the center of town. Compounding the problem of declining water levels, the district struggled with staffing needs, meeting Department of Environmental Protection mandates, and achieving water test requirements. “Our water rates are high as a result, said Whately district Water Superintendent Nicholas Jones in 2016. “It’s really difficult to run a water district with just 40 hookups. In the long run, combining the two systems will provide a lot more security.”
“The first step is to tell people the facts to get them thinking, ‘Yeah, we need to do something,’” said Fred Orloski, a member of both the Water Department and the Selectboard. The result was a plan to merge Whately’s two water systems.
As in Whately, Northfield’s new ad hoc committee will eventually have to educate residents about the facts in order to get them thinking about solutions. Inevitably, one of the topics will be merging the two water companies into one municipal water district. This is the first step in a potentially long and complicated process.
The goal is increased stability for water users, not a drop in water rates. Water users need to accept that reality in order to move forward.