Manchester’s average water usage outstrips those in neighboring communities and across the state. But that per capital number conceals a dramatic skew between higher and lower-usage homes in Manchester.
During an interim check in with the Select Board summarizing 10 years of water usage in Manchester, Water Resources Protection Task Force (WRPTF) Chair Steve Gang said the data is pretty clear: Manchester residents use a lot more water per capita than other towns.
Overall, he said, the majority of annual water consumption is associated with a minority of Manchester’s homes, and usage across the board balloons in the summer months.
This is the first comprehensive report the WRPTF shared from 10 years of consumption data for the 2,472 residential, 82 commercial and 64 public/non-profit water meters in town.
The interim report focused on residential use only, since residences account for 70 percent of water use in Manchester. Gang reported that Manchester’s per capital water use is 50 percent higher than neighboring towns and 20 percent above the state’s standard maximum usage of 65 gallons/person/day.
“We rank the eighth worst among 287 Massachusetts towns and cities,” Gang told the Select Board.
Further, he said, Manchester’s water usage is highly seasonal. In fact, summer usage balloons 212 percent from winter usage. And that summer “bump” is much greater than surrounding towns (where summer bumps run 140 to 160 percent).
In the end, to understand what’s driving the strident water usage, one needs to understand how truly skewed water consumption patterns are in Manchester. It is seen that 16-17 percent of homes account for 50 percent of overall annual water usage and a large percentage of that usage is seasonal, in service of lawn irrigation and pool maintenance.
Put another way, Gang said, 50 percent of homes account for less than 20 percent of water consumption. On average, the top 50 percent of per capita users in Manchester consume 126 gallons of water/day. The bottom 50 percent? They average just 26 gallons/day.
This becomes clear by simply considering the town’s Top 10 overall water users, whether commercial or residential. On that list, three private homes in Manchester each individually use more water annually than the 3,000-member Manchester Athletic Club, the town’s #5 water user. Further, six private homes each use more water annually than the Manchester Essex Regional High School (#10 biggest user).
In a way, that’s good news, because if the goal is safeguarding the town’s future water supply, then consumption among highest-use residences will be key. And that is a tight list.
Gang said the idea is not to demonize water usage in Manchester. Without a doubt, water consumption is a “highly skewed distribution” and the task force is reviewing different strategies to encourage better environmental stewardship.
Currently, Manchester charges for water use by tiers. The lowest rate at $8.36 per hundred cubic feet (cf) of water (roughly 750 gallons) for the first 900 cf used. The highest is $8.96 for those households that use more than 39,000 cf per year. The Select Board reviews rates annually and increases are implemented evenly across all tiers.
In the next few months, the task force will turn its attention to researching strategies of communities that are trying to tackle the challenge of high-volume water use while preserving water and sewer infrastructures. That means looking anew at fee structures, with the idea of first, probing the true financial pain point that inspires a meaningful drop in water use and, second, exploring how fee structures might be reconfigured to guarantee preservation of the town’s water and sewer infrastructure. That may not be possible given the town’s current tiered pricing structure, where highest tier accounts essentially subsidize rates at the lower tiers.
In the end, the solution will likely be a combination of incentives and financial fee structures that will actually move the needle on consumption, in the proper direction.
The WRPTF meets again later this month and expects to deliver final practical water usage recommendation strategies to the Select Board early next year.
