LYNNFIELD — The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) has issued a Do Not Use Order to a Lowell Street business.
The order states that “Boston Clear Water, LLC, owns and operates Pocahontas Spring Water, a public water supply (PWS) with a place of business of business at 165 Lowell St.”
In a Nov. 13, 2020 cover letter from MassDEP to Pocahontas Spring (VND) accompanying the order, MassDEP stated that it “has determined that the water from your water system could pose an unacceptable risk to public health unless immediate action is taken” and that “MassDEP is issuing the enclosed Do Not Use Order to you to address this public health risk.”
The letter further stated that “each requirement contained in this Order will remain in effect until terminated by MassDEP in writing” until “after you demonstrate that the principal incident or reason for issuance of this Order has been corrected and this such action is no longer necessary.”
The unilateral order states that on “Nov. 12, 2020, the PWS was informed that E.coli was detected in a ground water source sample taken on Nov. 10, 2020.”
The order went on to state that at 10:30 a.m. on Nov. 13, MassDEP verbally informed the operator of the PWS “of the verification of fecal indicator detection in the PWS source water.”
The order further stated that at 2 p.m. that same day, “MassDEP verbally informed the Operator of the PWS of the verification of a fecal indicator detection in the PWS source water” and also “informed the Operator to immediately cease serving water to the public.”
The order mandates several actions, the first being that “PWS shall immediately cease providing or vending drinking water to the public” and that “PWS shall post a notice at the PWS notifying all consumers to discard any water purchased and/or ice juice, formula, and uncooked foods that were prepared with water from the PWS’ distribution system on or after Nov. 10, 2020, and also to “notify the chief municipal office(s), local board(s) of health, and other emergency personnel, as appropriate, in the PWS service area of the contamination and the planned response.”
The order requires the PWS to “immediately begin to implement the PWS’ Emergency Response Plan” and to “to take all necessary actions to identify and remedy any actual or potential causes of contamination.”
The PWS was also ordered to “submit to MassDEP and the local Board of Health a certification that it has fully complied with public notification regulations.”
The order states that PWS is advised that “if it fails to comply with this Order, M.G.L. c. 111, section 160 provides for fines and civil penalties of up to $25,000 and by imprisonment for up to one year for each day during which a violation covered by this Order continues or is repeated. The order further advised that under Massachusetts law, failure to comply with the Order provides for “civil administrative penalties of up to $25,000 plus the economic benefit realized for such noncompliance.”
The order also informed any aggrieved parties that they may, “within three days after service of the Order, give written notice to appeal to MassDEP and file a petition for a jury in the superior court in the county where the premises affected are located.”
