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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCanoe River Comm 11/04/1994CANOE RIVER AQU FER ADVISORY COMMITTEE NOVEMBER 4, 1994 MINUTES MEMBERS PRESENT: Wayne Southworth, Joan Sozio, Shirley Davenport, Tim Higgins, Dick Lewis, Meridith Holford, Ed Tartufo, Dan Iagather, William Hardin, Susan Mims, Suzanne Erikson The meeting was called to order at 1:00 p.m. at the Mansfield Town Hall. A motion was made to accept the minutes as written. The motion passed unanimous. Tim Higgins updated the committee on the progress of the videotaping sessions. Cablevision was pleased, they will be editing the tapes into twenty minute programs. The programs will have similar beginnings and endings. The October 30, 1993, Land Use Conference was reviewed. Wayne Southworth congratulated Dick Lewis on the excellent job he did as speaker. He has received excellent feedback on Dick's presentation. There are many common threads throughout the region. The overall feeling to the conference was positive, however, the lack of attendance was discouraging. The Canoe River Aquifer Advisory Committee (CRAAC) mailed out approximately 1500 invitations, only 40 people attended. Joan Sozio would like to see extra time built into the schedule so that a speaker is not cut-off or rushed. The Committee discussed their future pians. They plan to contact the individual Town's Planning Boards and get on their agenda. This will help to get their message across. CRAAC is a non-political group that is made of members from other boards and community groups. It is not their intentions to tell Towns what to do but to continuously update their information about the importance of the Canoe River Aquifer. The ACEC meeting was scheduled for January 28, 1994 at Stonehill College at 7:00 p.m. There will be more information to follow at the next meeting of CRAAC. The proposed Septic Systems upgrade will be more costly than the Boston Harbor Clean -Up Project. The individual Town's Board of Health will be required to monitor. OLD BUSINESS: A resident from Norton talked to the Committee about Aquifer recharge. First, he thanked CRAAC on their commitment and involvement to the Canoe River. He stated that his interest started 60 years ago when he was a boy. He told the Committee about all the changes he has seen in his lifetime. He is concerned with the development and the apparent loss of recharge areas. Dick Lewis and Wayne Southworth responded to his comments. They stated that a river changes many times over its lifetime. Through the Water Management Act permits are needed from the DEP for wells over 100,000 gallons per day. It was also stated that Norton & Easton have worked well together on various Town lines building situations. The resident was directed to go to the Easton Water Works department and view the CRAAC library. The Canoe River signs are finally in. They had not been installed as of that date. There was concern with the road salting on Route One in Foxboro. They monitor the wetlands in that area and there has been a steady increase in the salt level. A request will be made to the State to have CRAAC - 11-4-94 Minutes pg.2 LOW SALT areas established on the State Highways in the area. The Title V workshop is scheduled for November 10, 1993, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. at the Norton Library. A motion was made to adjourn the meeting at 3:00 p.m. The motion passed unanimously. Respectfully submitted, Maureen R. Doherty l Mansfield Survey shows public will pay for safe drinking water The public wants safe water and will pay more for it, shows recent water industry survey of public attitudes about drinking water. Sur- vey also showed Americans want lots more information about and in- volvement in water supply activi- ties. Sponsored by AWWA Research Foundation and AWWA, the survey was aimed at giving water suppli- ers better understanding of public perceptions and demands. It sam- pled over 1,600 adults nationwide plus representatives of three target groups: environmentalists, local elected officials and water utility managers. Results released at Nov. 4 press conference in Denver, where AWWARF and AWWA headquar- ters are located. Water suppliers now assessing survey findings indicating that while a majority of customers give their local utility high marks, almost 40 percent of respondents believe their water quality is only fair or poor, about a third said the perfor- mance of their local utility is only fair or poor and 20 percent said they always or very often have problems with the taste or appearance of their water. Communication gap A key indicator of communica- tion gap: Most people believe sup- pliers care more about making money and their public image than about water quality and keeping their customers informed and in- volved. "This really points to a lack of communication on the part of water providers since so many are munic- ipal government agencies or in- vestor-owned utilities that have their rates regulated by public util- ity commissions," said AWWA President Robert Reinert. "This study shows we have a big commu- nications job ahead of us to clarify our public service role." Survey also revealed trouble spot with local officials, most of whom indicated they believe the public "already has enough say" about water utility decisions. Suppliers surprised Public willingness to pay more to bring water up to federal stan- dards (86 percent were very or somewhat willing) a surprise to suppliers, who don't, however, see it as reason to stop trying to keep rates under control in face of rising regulatory costs. "This means we need to redou- ble our efforts to make sure con- sumers are getting the quality of water they want at prices they can afford," said Reinert. And public demand for quality, the survey reveals, goes deeper than appearance and taste. For most respondents, quality means healthy and safe. Also in the mix: While most people believe their tap water meets federal standards, 42 percent think the standards are not strict enough. Other surprises: ■ Public perceives treatment process as a water quality threat equal to that of source -water pollu- tion. ■ Only about 30 percent of those who drink bottled water do so for health or safety reasons. Just as many drink it as substitute for soft drinks or coffee, indicating that they see water as healthier or more refreshing alternative. ■ The public is willing to pay 10 cents/month more to support drink- ing water research. ■ People with a negative image of their water utility are less trustful of their tap water even without ex- periencing actual problems, and more than a third of respondents said they had seen or heard some- thing in the media that made them worry about the quality of their water. MINUTES OF THE CANOE RIVER AQUIFER ADVISORY COMMITTEE OCTOBER 7, 1993 NORTON PUBLIC LIBRARY Attendance -'see sheet I. Meeting called to order. II. Reviewed minutes of September 2, 1993 meeting. Kathy Romero made a motion, seconded by Ed Tartufo.to accept the minutes as presented. III. Discussed videotape project. Tim Higgins updated the members on the videotape and the outline which he put together. Representatives of Foxboro Cable Co. have volunteered to participate on the project. As a separate project, Ed Tartufo suggested that the river be videotaped to document the unusally low water/dry bed conditions due to the lack of rain this summer. IV. Discussed Land Use Conference scheduled for October 30. Suzanne Erikson reported that plans are progressing well and that the staff at Stonehill have been very helpful regarding our use of the facility. V. Discussed joint ACEC meeting. Kitty Doherty of the Taunton River Watershed Alliance suggested January as a potential month for the joint ACEC meeting (Hockomock Swamp and Canoe River) that is being planned. Wayne Southworth, Kitty Doherty and Leslie Luchonok agreed to be on a sub -committee for that purpose. VI. Wayne Southworth and Kathy Romero updated members on the volunteer Service Fair which they participated in at Wheaton College. Several students expressed an interest in working on projects for CRAAC. VII. George Yelle, President of the Norton Historical Society presented an interesting slideshow on the Canoe River from Sharon to Norton.