CRWA in the NewsQuabbin Plan OpposedBy Betsy Calvert, ecalvert@repub.com The Republican,
Sunday, July 16, 2006 River steward and association staffer Andrea Donlon presented testimony at the Charlestown Navy Yard about potential ecological harm to the Swift River. She spoke at a forum held by the board of directors of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, which oversees Quabbin. The locally based watershed association believes that any excess Quabbin water should go back to the Swift River, which was dammed in the 1930s to create the reservoir. Eastern Massachusetts groups at the June 28 forum, Donlon said, addressed the issue of urban sprawl more than river ecology. Specifically, she said, the eastern groups opposed to the plan fear that more water would encourage more development in an already strained region. Groups testifying on this, she said, included the Charles River Watershed Association, the Nashua River Watershed Association and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council for Boston. The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority has pitched the sale of water as being an environmental bonus for depleted rivers in the eastern part of the state, including the Charles, Donlon said. It would allow communities in eastern Massachusetts to rely less on well water. Such reliance pulls water from the ground that otherwise would reach rivers, resulting in inadequate river flows, the authority has said. The authority has said it can use the water without causing environmental harm. But opponents of the plan said that the Charles River, a supposed beneficiary of using more Quabbin water, would not be likely to benefit, because municipalities easily could use the additional water to justify more development. The message was, Donlon said, "You really need to be careful about the ramifications of this." As a watershed association on the other side of Quabbin, the Connecticut River group believes that sending water back to the Swift River would increase the number and diversity of plant and animal life in the river, Donlon said. The Swift River empties into the Chicopee River, which flows into the Connecticut River. The reservoir serves some 45 communities, mainly in the Boston area. The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority carried out massive water conservation projects in the 1990s, leading to an excess of water today. In January, it proposed selling an additional 36 million gallons per day to some 25 communities. Most speakers at the forum opposed the plan, Donlon said. The few speaking in favor were either municipal consultants or former members of the water authority's board of directors, she said.
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