MVD Declares Water Emergency

[Ken Coleman]

Rick,

Don't worry, at least the old proposal was to put the MVD under the town, but the users would still bear 100% of the cost.

Ken

[tim dutton]

Tom stated that "The former Unitrode/TI building behind the 'new' Shaws has its own well that was put in to supply water for the former assembly operation there." - If I am not mistaken, The well they used is drilled into the same aquifer as the town uses, as does many private wells.

Tom also states that mall will not use MVD water for landscaping. Unless they plan on using collected rain water or other water collection means, Or they tie into Nashua water, they will use MVD water, as any well will use the same aquifer

The MVD has been searching for new water sources in town for over 15 years and to my knowledge, no other wells/aquifers have been discovered that will supply additional water.

The MVD Commissioners meet during the day (4pm). Very hard for the average citizen to attend the meetings. No minutes are available on line They are also very hard to contact, as no contact information on the website for each Commissioner.

I have asked MVD how they will manage to supply water to the mall and to future commercial and industrial development (not to mention residential) with the current water sources. Very few answers. I am afraid that MVD cannot handle the water situation in Merrimack in the coming future.

[mmoy]

The aquifer might have plenty of water while we don't have pumping capacity. If that's the case, then private wells aren't an issue.

At any rate, why not have a section of town meetings available for MVD issues. Say allocate ten or fifteen minutes every other meeting for updates and questions?

[tim dutton]

Private wells may not be an issue I was just stating that I believe all town water - Private or Public generates from the same aquifers.

Maybe town council should have a joint meeting with MVD and discuss current issues.

[WIZ]

The Council meets with the MVD at least annually with a very detailed report on current water consumption and supply as well as provide updates on the MVD's 5 year plan. The MVD is regularly consulted regarding town growth and its impact on the water supply. You may want to read the minutes to those meetings for more details, rather than trying to get them from the MVD.You may also look at the Planning Board meeting minutes for the Outlet Mall, they spent weeks on the water requirements for the mall.

Also, the statement in an previous post that the MVD has been searching for town well sites for 15 years without success is not a true statement. They have located several promising locations in town that have promising potential for future wells.

And dont forget that the town has access points to water from both Manchester in the north end of town and Pennichuck in the south west of town if we need it.

Any talk of the local government taking control of private wells is nonsense. Can you imagine the government (municipal, state or Federal) coming into you home an shutting of the water supply that you paid for?

The major problem with the public town water supply is water pressure in the north end of the town.

[WIZ]

Anyone wonder why our water restriction is one of the most severe?

It has to do with the fact that our water supply is undersized for the amount of users in town.

We have to have odd even watering, even when we have had heavy rainfalls.

If our system is tight when the rainfall is plentiful, it is no wonder that we have such a severe problem

At some point growth will resume in the town. What then? Unless we do something our water issues will continue to get worse.

Ken Coleman

Water restrisctions have been imposed because of water conservation efforts by the MVD. It has nothing to do with supply. I have never read anywhere that thge supply is undersized for the size of the town. Where on earth did you get this information?

[tim dutton]

The Council meets with the MVD at least annually with a very detailed report on current water consumption and supply as well as provide updates on the MVD's 5 year plan. The MVD is regularly consulted regarding town growth and its impact on the water supply. You may want to read the minutes to those meetings for more details, rather than trying to get them from the MVD.You may also look at the Planning Board meeting minutes for the Outlet Mall, they spent weeks on the water requirements for the mall.

I am aware of the minutes from the mall.

Also, the statement in an previous post that the MVD has been searching for town well sites for 15 years without success is not a true statement. They have located several promising locations in town that have promising potential for future wells.

I recall MVD searching for water 15 or so years ago and came up empty. All of Merrimack sits on an aquifer. I would like to know if the "promising locations" are in aquifers already being used.
The former Unitrode/TI building behind the 'new' Shaws has its own well that was put in to supply water - Does this well use water from he same MVD wells.

And dont forget that the town has access points to water from both Manchester in the north end of town and Pennichuck in the south west of town if we need it.


Any talk of the local government taking control of private wells is nonsense. Can you imagine the government (municipal, state or Federal) coming into you home an shutting of the water supply that you paid for?

Who is talking about a local government taking over the water supply?

The major problem with the public town water supply is water pressure in the north end of the town.

[i] Is water pressure the only problem? I still wish MVD meetings were held at a time the public could attend and commissioners were more accessible. [/i]

[Ken Coleman]

WIZ posted

Water restrictions have been imposed because of water conservation efforts by the MVD. It has nothing to do with supply. I have never read anywhere that the supply is undersized for the size of the town. Where on earth did you get this information?

This was the information put out but the MVD years ago when the water restrictions took place. You are correct (and sound like you may be associated with the MVD) that after this information was put out people complained about the continued new construction that put further strain on the water system and from that point the MVD has maintained that the primary reason for this is that they are interested in conservation.

If everything is as you say, why are we one of the very few towns with a complete water ban? Why is the lack of rainfall so much worse in Merrimack? Why after just a short period of now rain, do we have a MVD declared "Water Emergency?" What would happen if we had a true long term drought today?

I am sorry your post looks the like arguments made years ago to smother anyone looking at any change in the MVD system.

Ken Coleman

[Kathy]

...and still I passed houses watering lawns on way to work this morning, and as they are in my neighborhood, are definitely using MVD water.

[mmoy]

I finally saw the big electronic sign driving to CVS. We seldom drive north of Exit 11 now that Shaws Plaza is on the other side of the highway.

[RBarnes]

...and still I passed houses watering lawns on way to work this morning, and as they are in my neighborhood, are definitely using MVD water.

You could be hooked to town water lines and have a private well. I drove by one house along roads I know MVD runs water to and they were watering their lawn and taped to their fence was a sign saying "private well".

On my property I actually have 3 different wells, two of which are open wells so I could just drop a pump down with no problem. Even if I were to get town water I would still most likely use them for lawn care, filling my pool etc so I wouldn't rack up my water bill.

That said, I wonder how many people with automatic timers on their sprinklers just let it go off even with the ban in place.

[TonyRichardson]

Well #6 is still off line and not likely to be returned to use anytime soon. It is my understanding, that while the level of contamination has been reduced to below EPA standards, the contaminants are still present.

*Emphasis Mine*

What does this mean exactly?

Realistically there are always contaminants in water that has not been distilled and sometimes even then from the processing.
How much contamination, and what contaminants?

If the EPA requirements are deemed too lax, in what way are they too lax?
I believe EPA water requirements on municipal water are already far more restrictive than personal wells. Yes?
What standards are being used in their place?
Who by and when were these standards reviewed?

I guess at base my questions boil down to ..... Is well #6 being kept offline for inappropriate reasons?

[mmoy]

Perhaps we could get status reports on our water supply in the form of charts at their website. How much water do we have in our tanks or what the water pressure is in the aquifers. Some kind of metrics on what our water supply is on a regular basis so that the people in the town have an idea of the problem and what potential solutions are.

[Jamie MacFarland]

Perhaps we could get status reports on our water supply in the form of charts at their website. How much water do we have in our tanks or what the water pressure is in the aquifers. Some kind of metrics on what our water supply is on a regular basis so that the people in the town have an idea of the problem and what potential solutions are.

After writing the MVD concerning the details of the water ban, I got an "official response", which they must be using for anyone that writes with interest. The letter is very informative, and explains the reason for the ban, attempts to address mall concerns, ect. Its very important that the groundwater does not contaminate during the blasting activities, somewhat like what occurred at Home Depot at Private Wells during that construction. If we lose another well, this could cause more a long term, and widespread water ban. The letter does a good job of explaining what steps have been taken to prevent this kind of risk.

It looks like the consumption of water is substantially higher this Summer than typical, and this is the main reason for the ban.



July 13, 2010

Thanks for your inquiry regarding the MVD’s current outside water ban. Some of the questions you and others have asked - Why have a water ban? How much water will the new mall use? What is the MVD doing to increase its supply? I trust the following will be helpful.

The MVD imposed a water ban (as of 7/8/10) as a measure to insure the safe protection of the water system, to insure proper flows and pressure for fire protection and to insure a safe supply of potable water. The action was and is preemptive.

Just prior to the ban, the MVD was supplying over 5.3 million gallons per day (gpd). Our normal annual use average is approximately 2 million gpd. An ideal summertime use, without a drought or excessive outside watering, is approximately 3.5 million gpd.

An approximate percentage breakdown of water use by category is:
Residential 81%
Commercial 14%
Industrial 5%

This breakdown was critical when determining the imposition of an outside watering ban. Daily daytime, nighttime and early morning observations by our staff identified the reason for the heavy usage as outside water irrigation of lawns by residents as well as commercial users watering outside of the ongoing odd/even restrictions/ban. Under normal circumstances, MVD has an adequate supply for “normal” use. Extreme use (heavy lawn irrigation and other outside water use) creates a troublesome maximum day demand, thus the need for implementing strict conservation measures.

Once the water ban was posted, advertised, etc. we noted immediate results reflecting excellent cooperation and understanding from our customers. The reduction factors were as follows: 5.3 million gpd – 4.9 million gpd – 4.8 million gpd – 3.0 million gpd – 2.2 million gpd. The reduction will, hopefully, allow us some recovery in our aquifers and a “resting” of our pumping and other mechanical equipment used in the production of water. This is just good system management.

Concerns regarding the additional use of groundwater that the mall will create is a concern that the MVD, our engineers and hydrogeologist had also. As a result, certain conditions were required of the mall in order for them to tie into the system.

The MVD has gone on record with the Chelsea Property Group (CPG) that there is a supply need for the mall and MVD based on our engineering study. CPG is expected to participate in those costs as new supplies are brought on line. It is expected that the mall usage will ultimately participate in approximately 5-6% of the cost of future capital projects (based on their percentage of average daily flow for all phases of the development – 40,000 gpd initially and 137,000 gpd upon completion of all phases). Many will remember, the MVD previously had an industrial user (6-7 years ago) that was using approximately 500,000 gpd (Unitrode/Texas Instruments). That usage has gone away.

The MVD has been actively searching for supply and is evaluating the costs associated with re-activating well #6 as approved by the voters on March 30, 2010. These efforts combined with other corrective actions assure that MVD can adequately provide water to the system while serving the mall. However, the MVD identified several conditions prior to approving the connection. These conditions are based on MVD’s consultants and independent engineering evaluations of the hydraulic and supply impacts to the proposed mall. The evaluations outline the requirements expected of CPG based on the projected usage. In summary, the MVD is requiring the following major items from CPG as conditions before any connection is made:

They furnish and install a transmission main (loop) from Continental Boulevard through their property to a Route 3 existing main. Upon completion of the development, this main would be owned and operated by the MVD.
They provide a fee to cover invested costs from the existing users (sometimes referred to as an “Equity Buy-In” or “System Development Charge”)
They provide a future tank site for the MVD
The mall will be subject to all other fees and charges as outlined in the schedule of rates an bylaws
They will be required to add 11 new groundwater and 5 new surface monitoring locations on their site. This will allow us to continue our long established record of monitoring groundwater to compare with our existing system

The MVD’s hydrogeologist, in relation to the impact that the mall will have on our aquifers and nearby well has stated:

“The vast majority of the construction associated with the proposed Mall  site lies on the eastern side of the surface water and groundwater flow divide, and therefore, impacts associated with this project will be concentrated in the watershed (Merrimack) that extends eastward of the wellhead protection area  (recharge contribution area) of MVD's  Production Wells.  However, MVD has been very active in reviewing this project as it unfolds and has been instrumental in forcing modifications to the proposed construction plan and site layout that will serve to further protect underlying groundwater resources. A substantial groundwater and surface water monitoring plan has been agreed to and is being integrated into the Applicant's Operations & Maintenance Plan for the proposed facility. This Plan will serve to monitor runoff from the site and ensure that any changes to groundwater quantity or quality that occur on site can be measured and mitigated before they can adversely impact the MVD's Production Wells.*”



Based on the information provided by our experts, completed studies, test results and the commitment from the Outlet Mall to comply with our requirements, we feel the system will be enhanced by completing the loop, reactivating Well #6 and other supply line improvements. They will also participate in the cost associated with the location of additional water sources in the same manner as all customers. The system and water sources will expand thus making the MVD more efficient and productive.

I trust the above answers your question. If you have additional questions please let me know.


Sincerely,



James A. McSweeney
Business Manager/Superintendent

CC: Board of Commissioners
Emery & Garrett Groundwater, Inc.
Underwood Engineers, Inc.
MVD Treatment & Distribution



















*James Emery, P.G., President, Emery & Garrett Groundwater, Inc.

[Ken Coleman]

Jamie,

Thanks for posting the letter.

I think this says it all

Under normal circumstances, MVD has an adequate supply for “normal” use. Extreme use (heavy lawn irrigation and other outside water use) creates a troublesome maximum day demand, thus the need for implementing strict conservation measures.

In other word, we have enough water as long as people do not water their lawns when there is a dry period!

Tell me this is not a supply problem!

Ken Coleman