To the Editor,
On behalf of the two dozen volunteers working on the Water Resources Task Force, thank you to The Cricket and to Greg for highlighting our work in last week’s edition. I’d like to add two points to their excellent coverage.
First a small correction. Residential usage of drinking water represents about 95% of metered usage, not 70%. The missing 25% is drinking water measured when it leaves the treatment plant and goes into the water mains, but never metered at any of our homes or businesses. This “unaccounted-for” water (UAW) is due to leaks (public and private), aging meters (same) and other causes. Manchester has among the highest UAW in the State.
Chuck Dam is working diligently to reduce this by repairing leaks, relining or replacing mains and installing new meters (at the main treatment plant, so far). This 95% means that if we’re going to conserve and use less drinking water, it’s primarily on us as residents and not on commercial users.
Second, a wider viewpoint on our water usage, from “the rim of the cup.” I’ve no doubt that our exceptionally high usage and losses of drinking water stem in part from our great good fortune in having such ample supplies. Manchester is blessed by the foresight of conscientious citizens who more than 100 years ago secured 250+ acres in Hamilton including Round and Gravelly Ponds plus their immediate Watershed for our drinking water.
The Water Resources Task Force will make recommendations that aim for that same kind of foresight, to ensure we have ample safe drinking water of high quality long into the future.
If you’d like to know more or to give us a hand, you can contact me at 617-834-2238. And please look for an invitation to take our Citizens Survey which will be coming the next few weeks. The Water Resources Task Force’s next meeting is Wednesday October 5 at 7 p.m. on Zoom. Every meeting has something interesting to learn about Manchester’s drinking water—why not come check us out?
Thanks again to the many volunteers and to Chuck, Nate Desrosiers, the crew at the treatment plant and the indispensable Sue Croft for leaning into this important work!
Steve Gang
Chair, Manchester Water Resources Protection Task Force
