State's highest court paves way for stricter summer water use

By Beth Daley

Boston Globe, Sunday, January 17, 2009

In this wet winter, the state's water woes may seem a bit removed. But an increasing number of Massachusetts' rivers, lakes and other waterways are being siphoned too low to maintain some fish species during hot summer months and in a few cases, can run bone dry.

That's why the state Department of Environmental Protection is trying to limit all community water usage to 65 gallons per person by 2017 and dramatically limit the amount of water lost to leaks and other problems.

State officials have long maintained they are up against a major problem in achieving that goal: They are prevented from placing conservation restrictions on many communities and water districts that may be drawing down already parched waterways. Those districts are considered grandfathered from water allocation rules because their water allocations were in place before water rules were.

Now, the state's highest court has ruled the state can restrict the manner in which water is used by those districts - as long as environmental officials develop regulations to do so. The SJC decision continues to allow the communities their overall allocation, but could, for example, permit the state to impose lawn-watering restrictions during hot summer months when rivers are overtaxed.

"MassDEP is heartened that the SJC decision affirms our authority to place conservation measures," said Mass DEP Commissioner Laurie Burt. She said the state intends to create regulation in coming weeks for "those parties that hold grandfathered rights to more than two-thirds of the water withdrawals in the Commonwealth."

At the time of this writing, I still hadn't heard back from Massachusetts Water Works Association, which represents water districts but will add their comment in when I do.

Margaret Van Deusen, deputy director of the Charles River Watershed Association said the ruling will ultimately help the environment.

"The Court gave DEP the green light to impose conservation conditions on (these) water withdrawals," Van Deusen said." Controlling water demand is key to ensuring there is water in our rivers and streams for fish and recreation."

Here is a story Globe Staffer wrote on the SJC arguments: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/11/04/state_can_limit_water_use_ags_office_argues/