Newton Mayor Warren On Newton's Drinking (Fountain) Problem

NEWTON, MA — Newton has a drinking (fountain) problem and outgoing Mayor Setti Warren says he's got a solution. As a last hurrah before he leaves his seat at City Hall, Warren has announced a proposal to upgrade the city's water fountains. This comes a little more than a year after Newton tested and then was forced to shut off outdoor drinking fountains in 35 parks across the city after finding some were contaminated with higher than normal lead.

The proposal includes installing 12 new water fountains where people would most use them, testing and reopening of five water fountains previously shut off, but that are newer, continuing bottled water cooler service with paper cups at Gath Pool and Crystal Lake during the swimming season, and installing two more fountains as part of new park projects.

The new fountains would have water bottle refilling stations and be fully accessible. They would have new copper piping. To make sure the pipes don't freeze or contaminate the water from low use, he proposes that Parks & Rec perform a weekly 2-minute flush of each fountain.

The mayor said his office had found a funding source so that the work could be done in the spring. His proposal also includes time for community discussion.

Because of national health concerns about lead in drinking water, in the spring and summer of 2016, the city started testing fountains around the city and keeping track of what it found.

This lead to a new testing protocol in the schools, the Lead Service Line Replacement Program for homeowners with lead service lines, and a screening of some of the drinking sources in parks and playgrounds.

Then the city started soliciting feedback on water use at parks. It was feedback from the data from that survey and research that lead his office to this outdoor water fountain proposal for the spring, Warren said.

Twelve new water fountains would be installed at the following locations:

• Albemarle (2)
• Auburndale Cove
• Cabot Park
• Forte Park
• Cold Springs Park
• Newton Centre Park (2)
• Upper Falls (Braceland) Park
• Warren House Park
• Weeks Park
• Commonwealth Ave. Mall

The city would test and reopen five newer water fountains at:

• Newton North High School (4)
• Newton South High School

The city would install two additional fountains included in the project budgets at:

• Newton Highlands Playground
• Cabot Park

To learn more about this proposal, visit newtonma.gov/drinkingwater.

Photo by Jenna Fisher/Patch