City Council, August 17, 1992.
A Special Session of the City Council is held Monday, August 17, 1992, at three thirty-six o’clock p.m. in the City Council Chamber. All the members are present except Councilors Clement, Doyle, and Rabbitt; President Barry presides.
DISCUSSION WITH THE PAWTUCKET WATER SUPPLY BOARD AND THE STATE HEALTH DEPARTMENT REGARDING THE WATER EMERGENCY IN THE CITY OF PAWTUCKET IS TAKEN UP:
The first speaker is June Swallow, Rhode Island Department of Health.
Ms. Swallow states that the Health Department and the Water Supply Board have signed a consent agreement requiring both short term and long term action by the Board and the Public Buildings Authority to alleviate the water problem and to prevent it in the future.
A copy of said consent agreement will be made available in time for the meeting of August 19, 1992.
Ms. Swallow discusses the components of the Consent Agreement.
Under questioning from the Council, Ms. Swallow states the following:
There were probably several components to this problem; the construction work being done potentially being a significant part of the problem. However, to date the actual problem has not been identified. She states that the Health Department provides technical assistance to the Water Supply Board. She states that the Water Supply Board was in compliance with all Health Department requirements until July. She states that the Health Department will not give clearance for the use of water until they have gotten clean test results on the water and have found the cause of the problem so that it can be prevented in the future. However, if no absolute cause is found, the Health Department can make a judgment to approve reuse of the water.
Based on what she has seen so far, she believe the Water Board should be able to find the major contributing factors to this problem. She states there is no timetable for approving water use again. There is no magic number of days needed with clean test results prior to approval. She states that she reviews prior years test results, and Pawtucket has never exceeded 5% in the past, the highest was around 4%.
She states that one of the causes of the problem could be high nutrient areas in the water because DEM found worms near the treatment plant which only grow in high nutrient areas. They have never been found before in the system. She states that there is no guarantee that this problem will not happen again.
Council President Barry states that he is concerned that the Health Department has come in to the City to regulate the water supply by requiring the boiling of water, but does not get involved in the actual solving of the problem other than overview and control of the system. He wants more specificity from the Health Department on the cause of this problem.
Ms. Swallow states that the boil order was because of the fecal chloroform finding on July 31, 1992, and not because of the total percent of chloroform which was found to be over the 5% level.
The next speaker is Eugene Jeffers, Chief Engineer of the Water Supply Board.
Mr. Jeffers also discusses the Consent Agreement. Mr. Jeffers introduces the Consultants to the Board, the first being Dr. Jack Lapuck, Lapuck Laboratories Inc., 50 Hunt Street, Watertown, MA 02172, a Microbiologist.
Dr. Lapuck states that he has taken samples on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. He has done chloroform tests and test for ecoli. He states that the results of the tests are as follows:
On Friday, one of nineteen samples came back positive. On Saturday, none of nineteen samples came back positive. Sunday results will not be ready to read until tonight. He states that he is also taking tests for other bacteria and he believe the water system is moving in the right direction.
Dr. Lapuck has recommended increasing the chlorination and decreasing the PH in the system, because chlorine is more effecting in low PH. He believes that better watershed protection is needed and he states that it is not uncommon for water systems to have these types of problems.
Gene Jeffers then introduces Mr. John Keaney, from Camp Dresser & McKee, Inc., Engineering Consultants for the Board.
Mr. Keaney gives a review of the system stating that there has never been a major program to correct incrustation problems which are common in older systems such as Pawtucket’s. He strongly recommends continuation of the rehabilitation program to the system which is currently going on. He believes that a combination of events caused the problem, not one single thing.
Upon questioning from the Council, Dr. Lapuck says that he does not believe that contamination from 15–20 years ago, which was in the system, is the cause. He believes the contamination comes from bacteria five or six months old.
Gene Jeffers states that the Consent Agreement requires the Public Buildings Authority to show that new work would provide the least possible disruption to the system.
The next speaker is Mayor Robert Metivier.
Mayor Metivier is speaking on the cost of the water problems to date. He states that the first week cost $185,000 to provide both water and overtime. The second week cost $150,000. The City is now using more volunteers and summer help to keep the cost down and the City is also going out to bid for water because the emergency situation has been alleviated. People have sufficient amounts of water for consumption. The City is also embarking on an education program to get people to boil their water. He states that boiled water is the best water to drink and the City is getting 4,000 gallons per day from the National Guard.
Regarding funding, Mayor Metivier states that they are working to get reimbursement from the Federal Government through the Army Corps of Engineers and through the offices of Senator Pell and Representative Machtley. He states that if no outside funding is available, then the bills will be sent to the Water Supply Board - the costs will not be paid through the city budget.
The next speaker is Edward McCormick, Chairman of the Water Supply Board.
Mr. McCormick states that the PUC must approve any rate change to cover the costs of the crisis and the formula for dividing up the cost to the ratepayers would be decided by the PUC.
Mayor Metivier states that he hopes the PUC will spread the payments out over move than one year to keep the increase in the rates down.
Mr. McCormick states that the Principal Engineer’s position is unfilled at this time. It will go through regular channels for hiring and part of the requirements will be that the Engineer have a degree.
Upon Motion made by Councilor Vieira, seconded by Councilor Kinder the meeting is adjourned at five two o’clock p.m.