Rochester Select Board member Woody Hartley sat in on Tuesday’s meeting of the Mattapoisett River Valley Water District Commission and, given the floor, sought answers for his constituents where it concerns the E. coli contamination that resulted in a Boil Order in late October.
“Where did it originate?” asked Hartley.
Due to ongoing testing and ongoing chlorination, the answer was not given in absolute terms, but for now MRV members are convinced that the contamination emanated from the Tinkham Lane well in Fairhaven.
Commission Chairman Vinny Furtado explained that testing per the MRV’s Fairhaven-based permit is performed concurrently in Fairhaven and at the MRV water treatment plant in Mattapoisett. Furtado referred to Tinkham Lane as “Fairhaven’s biggest horse” so it was there that E. coli was confirmed, and the well was immediately taken out of service.
Since then, the town has invested $30,000 into the well, and during subsequent work a contractor discovered a hole in the well’s wall approximately 8 feet below the surface.
“We’re assuming that breach caused the issue at the plant,” said Furtado, noting that only since the event has the MRV plant been engaged in disinfecting the system. “The plant had a great run, 13 years of never having to disinfect the water.”
Henri Renauld, the MRV plant director, explained that E. coli is present in a lot of areas. “As much as we feel we have found what we believe is the source, we hope we’ve found it.” Renauld said that all member facilities conducted a Level 2 assessment and will continue to do so. “We need consecutive rounds (of negative results) over a period of time.”
Hartley sought confirmation on reports that samples found in Rochester tested positive for E. coli and, if so, wanted to understand how contamination at the MRV water treatment plant got into the Rochester system.
“The samples that were contaminated in Rochester were from the Marion sites,” said Meghan Davis, an MRV commission/committee member and an engineer with the Marion Department of Public Works. Davis said she will doublecheck with Gary Sherman on exact locations, but she noted that Marion’s wells are inside Rochester.
Renauld explained that sometimes wells shut off. The MRV, he said, feeds out water to Benson Brook Road in Marion, but that water could flow into Rochester via gravity coming out of the tank.
“I want to know, I want to see the flow numbers,” persisted Hartley. “You’re telling me there were days where the flow from Marion was backwards.”
Renauld said that the MRV feeds water “24-7 into Marion, nonstop, 365 days a year. Any time their pumps shut off … the water could flow in a different direction.”
Davis pointed out that two Marion wells in Rochester are not presently operable so the water that Marion is pumping into Rochester is from the MRV. The Wolf Island station in Marion only pumps raw water to Mattapoisett.
“It was a problem that impacted Rochester homes and businesses,” stressed Hartley in seeking those answers. “I wanted to be able to be able to answer those questions.”
In his Treatment Plant Operations Update, Renauld reported clean water samples everywhere in the MRV system through November 9. The initial discovery of E. coli happened on October 6. Renauld said the area, “We finally were able to sample out of that by about 10/20. … The chlorine has definitely been doing its job.”
The power outage that followed closely behind the Boil Order resulted in phone line failure that was restored on October 25. The MRV ran on a generator from October 26-30 and spent over $5,000 in diesel fuel just at the facility.
To that end, Renauld petitioned the commission to include two power-outage-related bills that were received on Tuesday from Hiller Fuels and Sea Gas subtotaling $1,636.47, and the commission voted to include them in the new batch of payable invoices.
“We’re still chlorinating, we will be for quite some time,” said Renauld. “DEP feels that the filters are getting older so we want to make sure we’ve got everything going correctly so it may be a couple of more months.”
Commission/Committee member Jeff Furtado said, “These last couple of months have been pretty crazy, and I just want to thank Marion and Mattapoisett.”
Those sentiments were returned and paid forward after a situation in which all hands were on deck throughout the district.
Representatives from MRV member towns will participate in ERP training on consecutive Wednesdays, November 10 and 17, at 8 a.m. at the Music Hall in Marion.
Tata & Howard engineer Jon Gregory reported to the MRV Water Protection Supply Advisory Committee that a flow probe broke down about a month ago. Unfortunately, Gregory noted, the probe’s computer had been recently replaced. The cost of the repair will be over $800, but the greater challenge may be realizing the projected December 6 shipping date so that David Watling can conduct his customary December testing.
Member emeritus David Pierce pointed out a gap in the data report received, and Gregory pointed to the awkward matching of old and new equipment.
“We’re still figuring out the right way to do that,” said Gregory, explaining how that barometric pressure affects how the new level loggers read. “We were pretty baffled when we saw it. … We know the exact value.”
The next regular meetings of the MRV Water District Commission and Water Protection Supply Committee are scheduled for Tuesday, December 14, at 3:30 pm and 4:00 pm.
MRV Water District Commission/Water Protection Supply Advisory Committee
By Mick Colageo