Wayland Mulls MWRA Connection For Town Water Supply

WAYLAND, MA — Wayland in 2023 may begin work on a connection to the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, which would be a major upgrade for the town water supply following revelations about local PFAS levels in recent years.

At Monday's select board meeting, Kirsten Riley, an engineer with the firm Kleinfelder, gave an overview to officials about the town's options for connecting to MWRA — which provides water to many communities in the Boston area pulled from the Quabbin and Wachusett reservoirs.

Riley is recommending Wayland use a hybrid water system, mixing a new pipeline to the Hultman Aqueduct along with about 40 percent of water from existing town wells. Riley estimated the cost would be about $22 million over 10 years — although MWRA has agreed to waive the typical $7 million entry fee for Wayland.

Along with many other cities and towns in Massachusetts, Wayland discovered potentially dangerous levels of PFAS in the town water in 2021 following a new state law that sets a threshold for the chemicals. The town has since installed a new filter system at the Happy Hollow well field, bringing PFAS levels down to acceptable levels in recent months.

But the new state law also requires communities with high PFAS levels to make long-term plans for keeping levels below the threshold. The MWRA connection is the town's answer to that requirement. The last PFAS test results released by MWRA in April 2021 found almost no PFAS in the water supply.

Wayland could start construction on the pipeline this year, and it would take about two years. The next step will be for the select board to support an article for the spring Town Meeting funding the beginning of construction. The Wayland Board of Public Works has already passed a resolution supporting the MWRA connection.

The MWRA supplies water and sewer services across the region. Local communities including Ashland, Framingham, Marlborough and Southborough receive full or partial MWRA service.