LYNN — Even though the season for gardening and lawn watering has past for more than a month, officials from the Lynn Water and Sewer Commission said that the city is still in a significant drought — one that could potentially result in raised rates for water use.
In September, when reservoir capacity levels dipped to 49.9 percent, the city issued an enforced outdoor water ban to curtail excessive water use. Since then, reservoir levels continued to drop; as of Sunday, Water Superintendent Richard Dawe reported that the reservoir sat at 32 percent capacity, nearly half the average capacity this time of year.
At a Water and Sewer Commission meeting Monday evening, Dawe announced that the commission will meet with the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority (MWRA) on Thursday to discuss potential solutions in the event that precipitation levels do not increase in the winter months ahead.
“If we can change the precipitation pattern, and starting Dec. 1, if we can get access to the Ipswich River, if the flow was there, then we could start turning things around. We’re just waiting for things to straighten out. Right now, it’s just been a very slow decline in capacity,” Dawe said.
The MWRA charges around $4,000 for four million gallons of water. The commission’s executive director, Daniel O’Neil, said that given the fact that the city puts out approximately 10 million gallons of water each day, reliance on the MWRA for water would result in significant financial strain on the commission.
“30 days [would cost] $1.2 million, so it’s going to be a significant strain. But of course, we have to have water to provide to the 100,000 residents,” O’Neil said. “We probably have a month or so where we’re hoping for some rain. If not, we’ll discuss whether we go with, you know, 5 million gallons a day at 20,000 a day and cut that $1.2 million to $600,000 […] it’s a balancing act between giving up having water and having a financial burden at some point.”
When Commissioner Robin Grace asked the board whether or not continued drought would result in increasing water rates in the city, O’Neil responded that he believes that the commission could absorb the costs through the month of January, but that a rate increase would depend on the drought’s duration, and the amount of water the commission would, consequently, have to purchase.
“ It’s a matter of how long it goes on for and what’s the volume that we take. If it’s $600,000 for a month or so, it can be absorbed. If it ever went on, if we put 1.2 million down for 10 million gallons for two or three months, then we would have to think,” O’Neil said. “The magnitude of the water would really determine the impact.”
Commissioner Richard Colucci asked Dawe how much rainwater they would need to avoid a deal with the MWRA, Dawe said the city would have to see about an inch of rainwater every week following an influx of two or three inches before December. He added that rain’s been falling — just not on Lynn.
“We’ve seen a very strange problem with the rain. The way the precipitation pattern’s been, a lot of rain’s gone just a little bit East, a little bit West, South. I’ve never seen anything like this where the areas receive a lot of rain, but just this little part of Northeast Mass gets nothing,” Dawe said.
