Are consumers confident in Wellesley’s water? Read all about it in annual report

In compliance with the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, Wellesley just came out with its Drinking Water Consumer Confidence Report for 2022. The point of the annual report is to inform the town’s water customers whether their water meets federal and state standards for safe drinking water. An individual report is generated by each of the approximately 533 community public water systems in Massachusetts.

Wellesley received no violations from the MassDEP list of mandatory contaminants to be tested for: microbiological, lead and copper, inorganics, volatile organics, disinfection by-products, radionuclides and synthetic organics. In addition, there were no positive E. coli samples in 2022.

However, due to 2022 data collected from the Morses Pond treatment plant that showed traces of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) at more than double the acceptable level set by MassDEP (coming in at 45.1 parts per trillion (ppt), far exceeding the 20 ppt limit), the town is monitoring PFAS levels. These man-made chemicals do not break down and can accumulate over time in the environment and the human body. Ongoing exposure to PFAS can lead to health problems such as liver damage, thyroid disease, problems with fetal development, certain cancers, and more.

Where Wellesley gets its drinking water

Wellesley’s 2022 average daily water usage tapped out at 3,292,505 gallons per day. In a typical year, a quarter of that comes from the ten well supplies located within the Town, while the rest comes from the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority. Because the Morses Pond plant was down for much of 2022 due to high PFAS levels, the town purchased slightly more that its usual 75% from the MWRA. MWRA water comes from Quabbin Reservoir, about 65 miles west of Boston, and the Wachusett Reservoir, about 35 miles west of Boston.

A very small portion, less than half a percent, of total water used is received from Natick to supply the area on the western shore of Morses Pond, and the neighborhood on the Natick line near Elm Bank reservation.

All of Wellesley’s drinking water is fluoridated and disinfected with hypochlorite prior to being pumped into the distribution system.

The report says improvements made to Wellesley’s water infrastructure system in the past year include replacing a water main on Oakland street and, as part of that project, cleaning approximately 6,800 linear feet of water mains on ten roads, as well as the four wells as the Morses Pond Treatment plant.

What the report says about PFAS

A big question is always, ‘what’s the latest on PFAS in Wellesley’s drinking water’? According to the report, data collected after a remediation system was put in place in June 2022 to address PFAS contamination at the Morses Pond Water Treatment Plant reflects non-detectable levels of the forever chemical. The GAC and Ion Exchange Filtration system is a temporary measure, and data collected will be used to develop a permanent treatment solution at the site. The report says that the town’s two other treatment plants at Wellesley Avenue and at Longfellow Road have remained below acceptable state levels for PFAS and continue to be monitored regularly.

This sounds encouraging until you read the “Risks of Drinking Water are Ever-Present” section. As water travels over land surfaces and through the ground on its way to and through Wellesley, it can pick up all kinds of nasty stuff—radioactive materials; fecal matter from animals (wild, domestic, and agricultural livestock) and human activity; viruses and bacteria which may come from sewage treatment plants and septic systems; inorganic contaminants such as salts and metals, which can be naturally occurring or result from stormwater runoff; pesticides and herbicides; and more. Using bottled drinking water is no sure solution as its producers are subject to the same purity challenges as municipalities.

The fact is, PFAS chemicals are so ubiquitous that they have been widely detected in soil, water, air, and food. Anyone who hasn’t been exposed to them has surely been living in a bubble with air piped in from a secret, uncontaminated source. Studies have shown that long-term exposure to high levels of PFAS can lead to adverse health effects. MassDEP says that “consuming water with PFAS6 above the drinking water standard does not mean that adverse effects will occur” and that “the degree of risk depends on the level of the chemicals and the duration of exposure.” We can’t help thinking about those eight 8-ounce glasses of water per day we’ve been drinking since Wellesley’s own Dr. Frederick Stare—who in the late 1940s purchased a now-subdivided 36-acre farm at at 267 Cartwright Road in Wellesley—championed the recently debunked guideline (along with advocating for the still-valid fluoridation of water). We’re not blaming the good doctor, who founded the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, for our personal PFAS problems. We’re just looking back at our “choices” and reflecting on how reliant our health is on so many factors.

PFAS and planning

It’s anyone’s guess how long PFAS has been in Wellesley’s water. Maybe as early as the 1950s, when it was first discovered that chemicals used to make stain-resistant, water-resistant, and non-stick products were contaminating drinking water across the nation. Some of these “forever chemicals” are no longer made in the United States, but plenty of them remain in enthusiastic use. PFAS can still be found in many cleaning and personal care products; in stain-resistant coatings used on carpets, upholstery, and other fabrics; and more. Many brands of fire-fighting foams also contain PFAS, however the town says the foam used by the Wellesley Fire Department and sourced from Nova Cool contains none of the chemicals.

It wasn’t until October 2020 when MassDEP put in place stiff drinking water safety regulations that set a maximum contaminant level for PFAS  that communities such as Wellesley were forced to start testing their water. Data collected from the Morses Pond treatment plant showed traces of PFAS that were more than double the acceptable level set by MassDEP coming in at 45.1 ppt, far exceeding the 20 ppt. It’s interesting to note that at the federal level, the US Environmental considers the acceptable concentration of PFAS in drinking water at 70 ppt. Samples from Wellesley’s Rosemary Brook and Longfellow Pond treatment plants were well under the maximum, with both under 11 ppt.

Once Wellesley’s water came back as having unacceptable levels of PFAS, the town shut down the Morses Pond treatment plant for over a year.

To keep the taps flowing, the town had to expand its reliance on the six wells not associated with Morses Pond, and the purchase of MWRA water, sourced from the Quabbin and Wachusett reservoirs, which tested for only trace levels of PFAS. MWRA water is expensive, and starting last summer Wellesley water customers started to see rate increases.

According to the town, the annual impact for the average residential water customer has been is $195 per year and an increase of $46 for sewer rates.

The Morses Pond Treatment Plant was brought back online in mid-June 2022 after tests once the DEP-approved new PFAS Interim Treatment System showed a decrease in PFAS levels. Special Town Meeting in fall 2021 approved $1.5M for the installation of that treatment system. The system consists of both granulated activate carbon (GAC) and ion exchange resin filters to achieve PFAS removal. The Water division used $1.5M in American Rescue Plan Act funds for the Interim Treatment System project and a $150K grant from the Clean Water Trust, to pay for the project, canceling out Town Meeting’s $1.5M funding approval. The money is expected to keep the system running through mid-fall 2023. After that, taxpayers will be kicking in $2.5M of interest-free loans, approved at 2022 Town Meeting, to fund system improvements.

water treatment morses pfas temp
PFAS filtering gear at Morses Pond treatment facility

The big picture

PFAS results from June 2023 reflected non-detect levels at Morses Pond; 13 ppt at Rosemary/Longfellow; and 9.38 ppt at Wellesley Ave.

Director of Public Works Dave Cohen during the June 13 Board of Public Works meeting called these latest sampling numbers “reasonably good news.”

Curbing enthusiasm is probably a good idea, since the EPA says that even if concentrations in drinking water are near zero, negative health effects may occur.

We will certainly be hearing more about PFAS in the months to come. Wellesley’s Select Board during its July 11 meeting broke out into a scheduled Executive Session to discuss strategy with respect to PFAS litigation.

Cohen said Wellesley continues to work with the MWRA to advance the “second connection concept,” which refers to a planned Tunnel Program running through Waltham, Weston, Wellesley, Needham, Brookline, and ending at the Mattapan area of Boston. Each of the sites currently has one connection that allows delivery of MWRA water to the communities. A second connection, referred to in documents as a desirable “redundancy,” would allow water delivery if the first connection fails. If one connection goes down due to maintenance or emergency, the “second connection” would then go into action. It’s a huge project, and if it comes to pass the estimated construction start is at least four years out. The area in Wellesley in which a second connection would be installed is known as the Hegarty Pump Station, and is located near Ouellet Park, in the Barton Road neighborhood.

Violations 

Wellesley got scolded in the Report by the State for not providing notification within 30 days to those served at 31 sample sites where taps were monitored for lead and copper in tap water. The town’s explanation—they concede they were late with their reports by 13 days for 23 of the sites, and note that “our system monitored as required and the concentration for both lead and copper was below the Action Level for these sites,” which included testing at Sprague Elementary School and Bates Elementary School.

There were also several violations for failure to report sampling results. The town says a couple of these failures were due to an outside lab falling down on the job to deliver analysis reports to the state, while others were due to sites being unavailable for sampling due to ongoing site work during scheduled sampling times.

The report says, “It is worth noting that all samples taken for PFAS since the startup have been Non Detection.”

Oh, and by the way, the report also noted that Wellesley’s water is hard. But your hard-to-clean shower doors and the refusal of your shampoo to lather up already told you that. Hard water isn’t considered a health safety issue for humans. For the life of your water-use appliances, well that’s another story. By some estimates, washing machines, dishwashers, faucets, etc. can expect a lifespan of almost half that of appliances who enjoy the gentle attentions of soft water.

More information

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection completed its Source Water Assessment Program (SWAP) Report for all of Wellesley’s local water supply sources. Copies of this report are now available upon request by emailing dpw@wellesleyma.gov. The report is intended to be used as a planning tool to support local and state efforts to improve water supply protection.

Shoppers guide to avoiding PFAS