Leverett approves new water well, audit

By BEN STORROW Staff Writer

Published on October 23, 2009

LEVERETT - Voters cast an eye toward the future at a special Town Meeting Tuesday night, approving an energy-saving initiative and the installation of a new water well near the town's 20-year-old landfill on Cemetery Road. Nearly 80 voters filed into the elementary school, debating for an hour before passing both articles by resounding margins.

Of the two, a proposal to install a new well at 7 Cushman Road drew the most discussion. The state Department of Environmental Protection has been monitoring the site and reports manganese levels in the water supply have risen dramatically since November, said Leverett Selectmen Chairman Rich Brazeau.

The article called for $33,000 from the town's stabilization account to pay for the well, bringing the total for the project to $42,000. Voters approved $10,000 at Town Meeting earlier in the year.

Town officials were peppered with questions, as residents sought to determine if a new well would be more cost effective in the long run than buying the property outright.

One resident said the town should buy the property, valued at $230,000, tear down the house and preserve the land for conservation. Others agreed, pointing to four other houses whose water has been similarly affected by the landfill and noting that buying all the properties might make better financial sense.

Brazeau said the town would form a committee to study buying the land. He said the town had two options: it could establish a public water supply in the area or buy some land and deed it so that four private wells could be installed.

Finance Committee member Tom Powers said he had originally supported buying the property, but had changed his mind after discussing the issue with the selectmen.

"This is more cost effective than buying the house," Powers said. "If nothing else it buys time to make a careful, reasonable decision about which way to go."

Others asked if manganese was even a public health concern. Brazeau said the DEP interpreted the manganese levels as an indicator that the nearby landfill was contaminating the groundwater.

The proposal passed, 83-3.

The other article drew little debate. It gave the town permission to hire Siemens Building Technologies complete an investment-grade audit of the town's buildings and install any energy-savings technologies thereafter. The article also transferred $5,000 from the stabilization account in the event the town did not want any equipment installed after the audit was complete. The measure passed unanimously.