Norwell Weighs $18M Water Plan to Combat PFAS Contamination

NORWELL — The Norwell Advisory Board has voted to recommend the $1.5 million design phase of a proposed water treatment plant on Washington Street for consideration at Town Meeting. During their March 18 meeting, the board voted to support advancing the initial design funding to voters while postponing their recommendation on the full $16.5 million construction cost.

The proposal represents a revised approach to what was initially presented as an $18 million project. Water officials explained that splitting the request into separate design and construction articles would give the town more flexibility as they await potential funding from external sources.

"We have an article for $18 million to design and build a water treatment plant on Washington Street," said Fred St. Ours, Water Commissioner. "After meeting with the Capital Budget committee last night... we discussed the wisdom of splitting this into two parts, design and construction."

Capital Budget Committee Concerns

The Capital Budget Committee expressed concerns about the timing of the request, citing other major financial commitments in town, including school funding and a potential override. Water officials acknowledged these concerns but emphasized the urgency of addressing PFAS contamination.

"I think the biggest concern is this is a bad year to be asking for $18 million even though the water treatment facility and all of its costs would be funded by the water rates and not the tax rates," St. Ours explained. "It's a year where there's a lot more going on."

Another significant concern was the uncertain funding that might come from settlements with PFAS manufacturers.

"We're waiting for money from the settlement with 3M and DuPont. We thought we would know how much money that was at this point, and we still don't. That's the question. So it could be millions, it could be 50 bucks. We don't know," said Peter Dillon, Water Commissioner.

PFAS Contamination Sources and Levels

The transcript revealed that PFAS contamination largely stems from everyday sources throughout town.

"What we know about PFAS is it's everywhere and most likely most of the sources in Norwell are from septic systems. So we're basically contaminating ourselves from all the various PFAS products that we use on a daily basis," Dillon explained. "It travels readily in the groundwater just like nitrate would. So it doesn't cling on to anything. It just moves and eventually it gets into surface water evaporates and it's actually in the rain at this point."

Officials also mentioned a significant 1993 incident where firefighting foam was used at a highway interchange, contributing to elevated PFAS levels at the South Street well.

Water Department officials explained that the town's water system consists of three well fields that all feed into the same distribution system. Jason Federico, Water Superintendent, noted: "All our wells service, everybody in town, they're all connected in a network... 40% comes out of South Street and then approximately... 30% from each of the other two well fields."

Financial Impact on Residents

If external funding is not secured, the project could lead to a 40% increase in water rates. Water officials emphasized that the cost would be covered by ratepayers rather than through property taxes.

"The estimate is $18 million. We're hoping to get a 0% loan and principal forgiveness from the state on this," Federico said. "There'd be an overall 40% increase needed to get the million dollars of what an annual payment on this borrowing would be."

Regarding the rate increase, Federico clarified: "Our goal is not to raise rates for the sake of raising rates. 40% is just the worst case scenario."

Fred St. Ours offered some perspective on how this would impact households: "Water is a very cheap thing for a family of four. The average water bill in every three months is 80 or $90. So a 40% increase, you can do that and come up with like $130, $140."

He added that even with the increase, "we would still be in the middle to upper middle level of the cost" compared to neighboring communities.

Completed South Street Project Provides Context

The discussion included information about the recently completed South Street treatment plant, which cost $2.3 million - considerably less than the proposed Washington Street facility.

"South Street already had pre-filtration, had green sand to remove iron, manganese, and organics already in place," Federico explained. "We took the roof off the existing building and put the filters inside the existing building."

Next Steps

With the Advisory Board's recommendation of the $1.5 million design phase (with one dissenting vote), the article will now move to Town Meeting for voter consideration. The board postponed their recommendation on the $16.5 million construction funding until they review additional information.

Water Commissioner Peter Dillon explained their approach: "We'd also like to keep an article for $16.5 million that may be pulled at town floor... Most likely in talking to the head of DEP on another issue today, most likely things aren't going to change in the SRF world this year and we're not going to get the 0% loan, but we'd like to keep it in there as a placeholder and we can have some further discussions on pulling it."

The town must comply with upcoming federal regulations requiring lower PFAS levels by 2029, making some form of water treatment necessary in the coming years.

To watch the full video of the meeting, visit Norwell Spotlight TV.

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