Washburn: Cool, Cool Water

So, without any city council initiative, the administration has wasted staff time to develop the costs for extending city water to Bow Junction and a billing plan to charge them cost plus 15% billing plan.

City residents pay an availability charge, which means even if the 15% were added, city residents would pay more for water than Bow Junction. The council has rejected this notion for decades and why the administration has started a conversation on such a plan is beyond comprehension.

Bow Junction came about when Concord businesses seeking to avoid high Concord property taxes sought relief in Bow when the power plant was in full swing, and kept Bow property taxes low. Well, the power plant is in decline, and a majority of new Bow residents come from out of state, and with it, a change of politics in Bow. With these two changes, the tax rate in Bow is comparable to Concord, with no savings to be had. The water at Bow Junction is not usable, period.

With Pembroke experiencing a failed well at Bear Brook State Park, and may also be looking for water, could Pembroke be next on the list begging for water?

It is amazing, shortly before the head of administrative services announced his retirement, he let loose the best-kept secret in Concord that we were at zero sewer capacity at our Hall Street sewer treatment plant. Do you think this information should have been shared with the Planning Board or Zoning Board of Adjustment before all of the housing units and required variances were approved? We now have 4,000 units in the pipeline with zero sewer capacity and no water or sewer impact fees to pay for the additional capacity.

The key question no one wants to ask is what our current surplus water capacity is, given the expanding residential demand and the lack of expansion in supply.

Seven years ago, Concord hired a Texas firm to update our zoning ordinance. Nashua, a significantly larger city, hired a New England-based firm, and 18 months later, they have completed their update. We still wait and wonder why the deputy city manager for development hasn’t explained to the council why the delay or cancellation. The update should produce more residential development, thus more demand for water.

Somewhere in the federal grant pipeline is a request from the city to tie Merrimack River water into the city water system. To the best of my knowledge, the city has yet to have the water tested to see if it is feasible, as it may contain PFAs and other carcinogenic matters that might preclude its use. Given Elektrisola in Boscawen and Webster Valve in Franklin, there is no telling what may be in the Merrimack. I am in no way suggesting foul play here just that it would be prudent to test first rather than expend taxpayer dollars only to find out it doesn’t work.

The Merrimack is a Class B river, but is the water potable? This is not the first time the city put the cart in front of the horse in developing alternative water sources. At one time, Turkey Pond was thought to be a potential source, and the manager at the time even installed a pipeline until testing the water proved it to be unusable.

Concord did extend water to Hall Street based on humanitarian reasons in the past, with the condition that none of the residences be converted to commercial use, lest the water be turned off. I can’t help but wonder if that has been enforced.