By Keith Regan, Contributing Writer
Westborough – Outdoor watering could be reduced to as little as one day a week as the town strives to meet enhanced requirements for how much water it pumps to serve residents and businesses at times when streamflow in local cold water fisheries drops.
More strict outdoor watering rules could be one change residents see in the future, the Board of Selectmen were told at their June 23 meeting, as Westborough prepares to update its 20-year-old Water Management Act permit that will require meeting new standards for the first time. The town must file its application by Aug. 31.
Consultants working through a Department of Environmental Protection grant said that while the town is below the department’s requirement of no more than 65 gallons per day per capita of water usage, it is close to that level, at 64.
Conservation and education efforts may help drive that number lower, said Viktoria Zoltay of ABT Associates.
The town’s levels of unaccounted for water are relatively high, Zoltay said – in one year it reached 20 percent, well above the 10 percent target. However, Town Engineer Carl Balduf pointed out that the town inspects half the town for leaks in its system every six months and that Town Meeting voters recently approved $2.1 million in pumping system upgrades that will give the town more flexibility in how and when it pumps water from its various supply sources.
“We’re in pretty good shape,” Balduf said. “We have a lot of good things in place.”
The new rules only apply to parts of the Westborough water supply. Several of its sources were in existence in 1986 when the Water Management Act was passed and are treated differently by regulators. The consultants are proposing the town looks to pump more water out of its wells at Lake Chauncy during peak summer demand times.
The town has seen an overall decrease in water demand during the last decade, a result of both business downsizing and more efficient equipment
The board noted that the new rules on outdoor watering, which would limit residents to watering as little as one day per week from 5 p.m. to 9 a.m. depending on stream flows, would be a significant change and that public outreach would be required.
In other business, selectmen met with the three members of the town’s State House of Representatives delegation to discuss current funding outlooks and others issues. Rep. Carolyn Dykema, D-Holliston, reported the town will likely see modest increases in most of its local aid accounts, including a 3.6-percent increase in unrestricted state aid.
Rep. Hannah Kane, R-Shrewsbury, told the board how the delegation worked to revive the I-495/I-90 interchange reconstruction project after it was dropped from the long-range plan by the state transportation officials. And Rep. Danielle Gregoire, D-Marlborough, updated the board and several School Committee members who were present on efforts to update school funding formulas.