{"id":12239,"date":"2022-09-22T21:10:17","date_gmt":"2022-09-23T01:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gcdev3.com\/mwra\/?p=12239"},"modified":"2022-09-29T16:06:41","modified_gmt":"2022-09-29T20:06:41","slug":"press-release-mwra-board-of-directors-approves-waiver-to-join-mwra-water-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gcdev3.com\/mwra\/press-release-mwra-board-of-directors-approves-waiver-to-join-mwra-water-system\/","title":{"rendered":"Press Release: MWRA Board of Directors Approves Waiver to Join MWRA Water System"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOSTON, MA, September 22 \u2013 <\/strong>At its meeting last week, the MWRA Board of Directors voted to adopt the recommendation of the MWRA Advisory Board to temporarily waive the entrance fee new communities pay to join the MWRA water system. Citing the challenges communities face \u2013 stressed river basins requiring water restrictions, rising concerns about PFAS (the so-called \u201cforever chemicals\u201d), and constrained economic development \u2013 the vote of the MWRA Board of Directors removed one hurdle communities must clear to join the MWRA system.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnsuring the availability of clean, safe drinking water is critical to public health, safety, and protecting our environmental resources,\u201d\u00a0said Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Beth Card, who chairs the MWRA\u2019s Board of Directors.\u00a0\u201cThe MWRA\u2019s water supply system is a tremendous resource and by waiving the entrance fee for new communities, interested municipalities will be able to better assess their own communities\u2019 needs and the hurdles that may impact them, such as ongoing drought conditions, PFAS, and aging infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the majority of the Commonwealth remains under significant or critical drought status, the Quabbin Reservoir, which supplies the MWRA\u2019s system, remains over 90% full placing it well within normal operating conditions for this time of year. According to the MWRA, even if the drought continued for several years, there would be adequate supply to fully meet the needs of MWRA\u2019s existing water communities and, if needed, to augment the supplies of adjacent stressed communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe MWRA has excess water to sell, and many communities near our system need water,\u201d explained Lou Taverna, Chairman of the MWRA Advisory Board. \u201cThe benefit for existing communities is a reduction in their assessments each time a new member joins. That\u2019s why the Advisory Board began exploring the option of temporarily waiving the entrance fee.\u201d<\/p>\n

Selling an additional five million gallons per day would reduce MWRA water communities\u2019 assessments by over $205 million over twenty-five years.<\/p>\n

Following months of discussion and debate, the Advisory Board voted in June to recommend that the MWRA Board of Directors approve a five-year waiver of the entrance fee, subject to certain conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve always been interested in responsibly growing the system,\u201d said Fred Laskey, MWRA Executive Director. \u201cThanks to water conservation and system improvements, MWRA is now 100 million gallons per day below its safe yield,\u201d he added. \u201cThat\u2019s 100 MGD that communities in need could use if they joined the system, and this vote by the Board of Directors will make it easier for them to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though the MWRA removed one barrier for entry, many others remain. The admissions process includes a robust environmental review, pipes must be built to connect the nearby communities to the MWRA\u2019s system, and in some cases modifications to the MWRA\u2019s infrastructure must be made to meet the requested demand.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a unique opportunity given unprecedented levels of federal and state funding that could potentially be used help pay for these infrastructure costs,\u201d explained Joe Favaloro, MWRA Advisory Board Executive Director. \u201cIf all of the stars align, this could be a \u201cwin-win\u201d situation. Communities with water challenges can meet their needs and safeguard their residents\u2019 health with the best drinking water in the country, and MWRA communities receive some much-needed rate relief.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n

If you would like more information about this topic, please contact the MWRA Advisory Board at matthew.romero@mwraadvisoryboard.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BOSTON, MA, September 22 \u2013 At its meeting last week, the MWRA Board of Directors voted to adopt the recommendation of the MWRA Advisory Board to temporarily waive the entrance […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,44],"tags":[43,40],"class_list":["post-12239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-post","category-press-release","tag-press-release","tag-system-expansion","has-not-thumbnail"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gcdev3.com\/mwra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gcdev3.com\/mwra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gcdev3.com\/mwra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcdev3.com\/mwra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcdev3.com\/mwra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcdev3.com\/mwra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12239\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gcdev3.com\/mwra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcdev3.com\/mwra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcdev3.com\/mwra\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}