Water policy to limit usage

Restrictions target stressed river basin s

By Beth Daley, Globe Staff, 4/4/2004

Many frustrated homeowners who spent yesterday bailing out their basements following last week's flooding rains could soon experience the flip side of their soggy misery: a water shortage with bans on lawn watering, washing cars, and filling swimming pools.

Tomorrow, a new policy implemented by the state Department of Environmental Protection will attempt to restore some balance to the confusing -- and ever-worsening -- water situation in Massachusetts. Although more than enough rain falls on the state to meet residents' needs, far too little seeps into the ground because so much of it lands on pavement or is carried away by storm pipes.

As a result, more than one-third of the state's 27 river basins are now considered stressed because communities are taking more water out of them than is being replaced by nature. While the recent rains are helping to restore some water to rivers and underground reservoirs, far too much rain is falling too quickly for the ground and rivers to absorb. Most of it is washing away.

"It may seem a little strange to be talking about this after 3 to 5 inches of rain, but we have a problem," said Robert W. Golledge Jr., environmental protection commissioner. "We in the Northeast are water rich and we don't pay attention to these things."

The new policy will allow communities that draw water from stressed water basins -- mainly in the central and northeastern parts of the state -- to take 65 gallons per resident per day, down from about 80 gallons now. Any new permits for water withdrawals from communities or farms will have to be accompanied by plans to return water to the ground, such as using porous pavement that allows water to seep into the soil. Some communities will face even stricter limits.

Meanwhile, a five-year review of each river basin will reevaluate the entire amount of water taken from the basin and possibly place new limits on long-running water-use agreements. In the next year, there are 11 water basins up for the review, including Boston Harbor and the Connecticut, Charles, and Parker river basins.

"These are good restrictions," said Margaret Van Deusen, deputy director and general counsel for the Charles River Watershed Association, a conservation group that is concerned that too much water is being taken from that river's headwaters.

Local water superintendents have not yet viewed the rules, but are expected to balk at them, in large part because they will probably mean more water bans. Both voluntary and mandatory bans are expected to increase as communities struggle to balance water usage with the demand from new homes and businesses. Last summer, at least 29 communities had voluntary or mandatory water bans, according to the state -- and that was considered a non-drought year.

The new rules come after a protracted fight by environmental groups to set stricter controls on water taken from the Ipswich River, named last year as the third most endangered river in America by a respected conservation group because of excessive water withdrawals. The river's watershed is pumped so dry some years that massive fish kills occur.

Last year, environmental groups filed suit against the state for its failure to issue tough new permits for those that withdraw water from the Ipswich River basin, but dropped the suit soon after the permits were issued. The permits include stiff new restrictions for at least 12 communities that take water from the basin. The state's new policy is modeled after those permits.

Yesterday, Kerry Mackin, executive director of the Ipswich River Watershed Association said she was pleased by the new rules, which she said appear to go further than any other restrictions on water usage the state has imposed in the past. "They are needed," she said.

© Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.