water

Ah....the pristine waters of Cape Cod -- in your dreams 

This article in the Globe describes a "really gross". situation that affects not only the quality of life for Cape Cod residents, but threatens their public health.  Never mind the tourist industry.

“There can be so much algae in the water that they look like huge lily pads, like you can walk across them on the water,’’ said Scott Zeien, owner of Kingman Yacht Center, who has been swimming and sailing off this Bourne village since he was a child. “It’s really gross. It looks like a bad day on the Mississippi River - not a place anyone would want to swim.’’

The problem, a growing body of evidence suggests, stems from the dramatic rise in development on the Cape and the lack of sufficient waste-disposal systems.

The remnants of sewage from septic tanks of the more than 200,000 full-time Cape residents is seeping into the ground water and polluting estuaries, bays, and other bodies of water from Bourne to Orleans. Tides flush out the pollution on the northern side of Cape Cod.

Sometimes I agree that our laws and regulations around ballot questions need to be tightened up to make it really hard for out of state crackpots to doing something really stupid. Here's a story in part from Colleen Quinn of the State Huse News Service.

Homeowners and businesses across the state could see a new surcharge on their water bills, under a plan being considered by a legislative commission charged with looking at the state’s water infrastructure needs and financing.

The proposal, still in the works and dubbed the Blue Communities Act, would charge 1/10th of one cent for every gallon of water used to create a fund that would redistribute money to cities and towns for water infrastructure projects. The proposal, modeled after the state’s Green Communities Act, creates incentives for communities to adopt environmental and management practices in order to be considered “blue communities.” In return, they would be eligible for payments, grants and loans.

The surcharge is estimated to bring in approximately $230 million a year, according to members of a subcommittee on the Water Infrastructure Finance Commission.But in addition to the opposition that forms naturally to any new consumer charges, the plan could be derailed by a proposed 2012 ballot initiative to cap water and sewer rate increases at 2 ½ percent annually or require voter approved overrides in communities looking for larger increases.

The ballot initiative was filed by a signature-gathering firm, National Ballot Access Inc., based in Duluth, Georgia. Heidi Verougstraete, the firm’s president, and an attorney representing the group, William McDermott, from West Roxbury, did not return repeated phone calls. The petition was submitted by 15 people, most from the Burlington and Woburn areas. A handful of signers did not return phone calls.

Sen. James Eldridge (D-Acton), the Senate chair of the water commission, said the ballot question would work counter to what the commission is trying to do – come up with plans to address unmet water infrastructure needs around the state and devise ways to pay for them.“This ballot initiative would cripple the ability for water districts and towns and cities to provide a clean water supply and to treat water for their residents,” Eldridge said after a recent Water Commission meeting at the State House.

Rep. Carolyn Dykema (D-Holliston), said she thinks thehe ballot question, if approved, would put communities in a very difficult position when trying to pay for water needs.

“I appreciate the sentiment behind it. I believe there are pressures on people coming from many sides,” Dykema said. “But water infrastructure is a critical component of public health and public safety.”.

Goodness I sound like a crackpot myself. Thank Heavens we've got some sensinlble leaders in the Legislature about this. 

 But I think theres is some changes that can be made in the laws. Maybe we can do it by initiatve petition. Only kidding.

After having a money squeeze last summer, selectmen last night toyed with ideas to make water and sewer budgets more predictable… To meet the requirements of the Department of Revenue, the town increased sewer rates by 18 percent and dropped water rates by 21.5 percent to soften the blow. Officials said last night that they did not want to be caught off guard again if water or sewer revenue doesn't meet expectations. "Our board got proactive with this and said, 'What can we do to have a little more control?"' Fetherston said. [Full Article: Ashland TAB]

Members of a state commission are eying water use charges, property tax increases, and fees on boating and development as potential sources of new revenue to address decaying water and sewer infrastructure across Massachusetts. While no final recommendations have been made, Water Infrastructure Finance Commission members who met Tuesday in the Senate Reading Room also discussed the possibility of new taxes on fertilizers, chemicals and pharmaceuticals. [Full Article: Wicked Local Rockport]

Now that spring is here, a number of communities south of Boston are plugging leaks and tightening rules to meet state demands for water conservation and forestall the need for Draconian watering bans when the dry days of midsummer arrive. [Full Article: Boston Globe]