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Public forums scheduled on Bicycle & Pedestrian Master Plan

The Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee is hosting four virtual public forums to review the Bicycle & Pedestrian Master Plan draft and collect feedback to improve the plan. There will also be a short presentation about the master plan at the State of the Town meeting in November.

The master plan, which was drafted by BPAC in consultation with the Planning Department, the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, and other town committees and departments, aims to make Lincoln to be more safe, green and accessible for residents and visitors traveling by foot and bike.

The public forums each focus on one region of Lincoln, but the BPAC will review the overall plan at each forum and are happy to discuss any region of town at any meeting if participants desire.

  • Thursday, Oct. 13 at 7:30 p.m. — North Lincoln (Route 2 and north). Zoom link.
  • Thursday, Oct. 20 at 7:30 p.m. — South Lincoln (Route117 and south). Zoom link.
  • Wednesday, Oct. 26 at 7:30 p.m. — East Lincoln (east of Lincoln Road/Bedford Road, south of Route 2 and north of Route117.) Zoom link.
  • Wednesday, Nov. 2 at 7:30 p.m. — West Lincoln (west of Lincoln Road/Bedford Road, south of Route 2 and north of Route117.) Zoom link.

More information:

Watering restrictions still in effect

With the continued Stage 3 drought, the state requires maintaining water use restrictions. To comply, the Lincoln Water Commission voted unanimously to extend water use restrictions in Lincoln beyond the traditional stop date of September 30. When drought restrictions are ended, a posting will be made on the town website and via other means. Don’t hesitate to contact the Lincoln Water Department if you have any questions (781-259-2669 or lafalamd@lincolntown.org).

During Stage 2 and above, Water Department staff monitors all sprinkler use in town and will stop to remind residents of the restriction policy. A first offence will result in a $100 fine, and subsequent violations will result in a $200 fine. For more information, see this Restrictions, Conservation & Water Use page and the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs’ drought page.

Film screening: “After Life”

The Lincoln Library Film Society will screen “After Life” (1998) directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda on Thursday, Oct. 20 at 6 p.m. If you could choose only one memory to hold on to for eternity, what would it be? In Japanese with English subtitles. Free and open to all.

Walk to benefit SVdP food pantry

Join a walk to benefit the Society of St. Vincent de Paul of Lincoln and Weston, which operates the food pantry for the two towns, on Saturday, Oct. 22 at St. Julia Church (374 Boston Post Rd., Weston) along Weston’s rail trail (approximately 2.2 miles). Check-in/same-day registration begins at 9 a.m. and the walk at 9:30 a.m., with an ice cream social at 10:30 a.m. Pre-register by October 15 to receive an SVdP gift. Suggested donation: $10 per person/ or $25 per family. Click here to register and/or donate. For more information, email svdplincolnweston@gmail.com.

“Opera for Everyone” series returns

The Friends of the Lincoln Library present their annual “Opera for Everyone” series on three Sundays from 2–3:30 p.m. at the library. Opera lecturer Erika Reitshamer returns to enlighten, inspire and entertain while passing along her vast knowledge of opera and opera lore to Boston’s educational institutions. Her last offering for Lincoln Library was a lecture on “It Takes Two to Duet,” just in time for Valentine’s Day on February 12, 2022.

  • October 23 —Donizetti’s “The Elixir of Love”
  • October 30 —  Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville”
  • November 6 — Rossini’s “The Italian Girl in Algiers”

Click here for plot details.

Family Halloween activities at deCordova

The deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum offers moonlit sculpture-building activities with deCordova faculty, self-guided mysteries to solve with friends and family, and a sweet treat or two along the way on Friday, Oct. 21 and Friday, Oct. 28 at 5:30 p.m. Cost is $35 per family ($28 for member families); click here to select date and buy tickets. For more information, call 781-259-3647.

Pumpkin Palooza for kids at library

The Lincoln Public Library will host Pumpkin Palooza on Saturday, Oct. 29 from 10:30 a.m.–noon. Wear your costume and join us on the library lawn for Halloween fun: pumpkin painting, activities, crafts, and more. Drop-in; best for ages 6 and under.

Purple lights highlight domestic violence awareness

Why are those buildings purple? Purple, it is said, is the color of courage, survival, honor, and hope. It is also the color recognizing Domestic Violence Awareness Month each October. For the past several years, the Sudbury-Wayland-Lincoln Domestic Violence Roundtable, in collaboration with the Lauren Dunne-Astley Memorial Fund and First Parish in Wayland, has chosen to light the towns of Sudbury and Wayland in purple. They have lit numerous faith and public buildings in Sudbury and Wayland and have posted banners and signs in all three communities. The Roundtable invites local businesses and homeowners to join in by adding their own purple lights. Inexpensive 4.5 watt Feit purple LED Electric bulbs are available at Ace Hardware in Wayland and Aubuchon Hardware in Sudbury.

Water board outlines exceptions to watering ban for all residents

Watering lawns by any means is now prohibited until further notice, but the Water Commission carved out some exceptions to the draconian Stage 4 water restrictions it imposed earlier last week. It also clarified that the restrictions apply equally to those who use private well water, not just those on town water.

The commission was bombarded with questions after its July 26 announcement that outdoor watering via sprinklers and, in many cases, even by handheld hose was prohibited in light of the continuing drought. In emails to LincolnTalk, residents asked if the latest rules applied to things like watering vegetable gardens or new landscaping plantings.

Water Department Superintendent Darin LaFalam told the commission that state guidelines were vague, requiring only restrictions on “nonessential watering,” but that state law does indeed empower towns to apply the rules to those who are not using the public water supply. Of Lincoln’s roughly 1,500 households, about 200 have private wells.

“There’s going to be a firestorm,” Commission Chair Ruth Ann Hendrickson predicted when well owners learn their outdoor watering habits have the same restrictions.

Stage 4 restrictions prohibit any outdoor watering except via drip irrigation once a week, but Hendrickson clarified in a LincolnTalk email last week that hand-watering by hose of personal vegetable gardens and watering of non-vegetable plantings using a bucket or watering can would be allowed.

At their July 29 meeting, the commission discussed the various questions that had been raised, and members voted to allow the following exceptions, and only between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m.:

  • Vegetable gardens may be hand-watered as needed, since they fall under the state food production exemption. 
  • The town pool, tennis courts, and playing fields may get the minimum amount of water needed to ensure they can continue to operate because they are considered “essential to the mission” of the body that oversees them (the Park and Recreation Department). However, the toddler fountain at Codman Pool will be turned off. LaFalam had previously suggested that Parks and Rec use a pool cover when Codman Pool was closed to reduce evaporation. But Parks and Rec was reluctant to do so for safety reasons in case someone used the pool illegally and got trapped under the cover, he said. However, he will ask them look into using a liquid chemical solar cover. 
  • Recently planted landscaping that needs more frequent watering to become established may be watered by hand or with drip irrigation as required, preferably just once a week. No new flora may be planted during this time.
  • Conservation agencies (i.e., the Conservation Commission and the Lincoln Land Conservation Trust), which install and maintain native plants to keep invasive species at bay, may also water those plants as needed.
  • Power washing houses and decks is not allowed, nor is window washing that uses water, but if a painting or repair job has already been scheduled or is underway, the homeowner may ask the Water Department for an individual exemption.

As noted when the State 3 restrictions were put in place, Water Department staff will drive around town and leave warning cards at home where they see sprinklers running. A second violation will result in a letter and subsequent violations will result in fines.

The department will make every effort to contact homeowners with automatic sprinkler systems who are away on vacation, but if the sprinklers are still running after a month, they will consider shutting off the water supply to the home.

The short period of time between the Stage 3 and Stage 4 declarations may cause some confusion. The Water Department included a notice of the Stage 3 restrictions with the quarterly water bills that just went out in the mail, but those notices are “already obsolete,” LaFalam said.

Lincoln is not in immediate danger of running low on water; Flint’s Pond is actually “at a normal state for this time of year,” LaFalam said. However, the groundwater level is seven feet lower than it was in December, something that was discovered when workers recently drilled test holes for the planned new town well on Tower Road. The existing well system was recently cleaned with the goal of increasing its capacity until the new well can come online.

“One water” is the guiding principle, LaFalam said, meaning that water from Flint’s Pond, the town well and private wells ultimately comes from the same place, as state regulations recognize. Even if conditions in Lincoln are not dire at the moment, “I think we have an obligation to the wider area to use our water with restraint,” he said.

Leak shuts off water service on much of Lincoln Road

Workers dig down to fix the leaking water pipe on Lincoln Road. (Photo by Alice Waugh)

A leak in a water pipe under Lincoln Road on Tuesday afternoon meant no water service for a wide swath of Lincoln homes and businesses between Codman Road and Weston Road including some side roads, with service not expected to be restored until late last night.

A contractor’s crew was digging a deep hole Tuesday afternoon as police directed traffic around the soggy street near the intersection with Todd Pond Road after Water Department workers shut off water on either side of the leak. Water Commission Chair Ruth Ann Hendrickson said the long stretch of Lincoln Road affected may have been because of balky shutoff valves near the site of the leak.

“You go to the gate valve on either side [of the leak] to close it, but then if that one isn’t working, you go to the next and then the next” until you find one in working order that can be shut. Valves sometimes corrode and the problem isn’t discovered until the infrequent occasion when workers try to close them.

“It’s well known in the industry” that many gate valves are stuck open, Hendrickson said. The Water Department has a program in place to test all the gate valves in town and “they’ve fixed quite a few already,” but many more still need to be looked at, she added.

It was still unclear Tuesday evening how the leak was discovered or if it was due to a break in the water main itself or a joint between two lengths of pipe. Most leaks occur at joints that fail, she said.

The Water Department learns about a new leak every couple of months. Sometimes they’re discovered only when water collects on the ground above a leak, or — as has happened recently — when a resident reports hearing water rushing into a storm drain underground when the weather is dry, Hendrickson said. The department checks for leaks once a year using listening devices to pick up the sound of running water late at night when most residents are asleep and not using water, she added.

Road salt in Lincoln: How much is enough?

Road salt has been a hot topic of discussion on LincolnTalk recently. How is it used to treat Lincoln’s roads? How much salt is in town water? Is it harmful for the environment?

Lincoln’s Department of Public Works, like that in most other U.S. cities and towns where it snows, have been spreading salt crystals on roads for decades. Road salt (sodium chloride, the same chemical as table salt) lowers the freezing point of water, so ice and snow containing dissolved salt will melt at colder temperatures, resulting in roads that are wet rather than slippery and thus improving safety for vehicles.

About four or five years ago, Lincoln began applying a thin coating of salt water (brine) on roads before an anticipated storm, which appears as thin white stripes. This prevents ice and snow from immediately adhering to the roadway and “breaks that bond,” DPW Superintendent Chris Bibbo said. Pre-treating roads with brine means that less road salt is needed during and after the storm.

In recent weeks, several residents have shared photos on LincolnTalk of what appeared to be heavy coatings of rock salt on some town roads. Around the same time, The New York Times and The Washington Post published stories about a study in the scientific journal Frontiers in the Ecology and Environment titled “Road salts, human safety, and the rising salinity of our fresh waters.” Road salt can damage plant life when it drains or plows push it to the side of the road, and too much sodium in drinking water over a period of years can be harmful to human health.

In the 1980s, there was enough concern over road salt that the amounts used in Lincoln were reduced, and signs appeared at the town line on some roads noting that “minimum salt is used in Lincoln” as a warning to drivers that the road they were on might suddenly get more slippery. But problems arising from under-salted roads caused the pendulum to swing back the other way.

“Some roads were just rutted ice in a particularly bad winter,” Water Commissioner Ruth Ann Hendrickson said. There have been at least two deaths in recent years after car accidents involving icy roads. George Elder died after his car skidded on Sandy Pond Road, according to the Boston Globe article published on March 4, 1984. There was  another accident on icy Moccasin Hill where the driver was badly hurt, “and it really triggered people to say we need to have more” salt, she added.

How much salt does the DPW use? That depends on the weather and road conditions. “We try and use the least amount of material possible during winter storm events while doing our best to provide a safe transportation network,” Bibbo said. “Most winter storm events provide different sets of challenges and therefore require different treatment options. For example, a fast-moving snowstorm typically requires a different strategy than a rain-to-freeze event. Storms that produce mostly snow typically require more of a plowing technique than treatment. The weather conditions that we had in mid- and late December were challenging, with rain and mist repeatedly freezing on the roads.”

On Christmas Day, there was light snow and rain while the temperature hovered around freezing, and police reported several car accidents that morning. On January 5, while Lincoln didn’t see particularly hazardous conditions, a flash freeze caused numerous accidents in central and western Massachusetts despite road treatments. “I’ll tell you that I can speak for all our snow and ice managers that I’d rather get a foot of snow,” state Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver was quoted as saying.

Another variable is the ratio of sand to salt used on a given day. The DPW has piles of both (though the salt is covered, as required by the DEP), and the department decides what mixture to use for each weather event, Bibbo said. A higher proportion of salt is needed for icy conditions, whereas snow calls for less salt but more sand to aid in traction.

Occasionally there’s an accidental release of a large amount of the salt/sand mixture in one spot, “but we obviously try to avoid that at all costs,” Bibbo said. The DPW is looking into purchasing calibration equipment to more precisely control the rate at which the material is released as trucks drive over roads. The rate is now manually controlled by DPW crews based on their experience and road conditions, he added.

Asked about the use of road salt in environmentally sensitive areas, Bibbo said, “We don’t do anything different on roads near wetlands.” Roads are treated differently only according to traffic volume and speed, so main roads like Route 117 and Route 136 will get more total sand and salt. “The more minor roads typically may not be treated at the same frequency as the major roads, but all roads typically get treated,” he said.

Sodium in town water

The Lincoln Water Department tests untreated water from Flint’s Pond and the well on Tower Road (which provides about 30% of town water) once a year. The most recent water quality report shows that sodium levels ranged from 14.1 to 54.5 milligrams per liter or parts per million (ppm) in 2020. Unlike with some other chemicals and bacteria, there are no regulatory limits on sodium in drinking water, but the state DEP’s Office of Research and Standards guideline (ORSG) is 20 ppm.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also has nonenforceable guidelines for secondary maximum contaminant levels (SMCLs) for various contaminants; exceeding those levels can cause cosmetic or aesthetic effects in drinking water. The SMCL for sodium is 250 ppm.

Interestingly, Lincoln’s higher 54.5 ppm sodium concentration is in water from the well, not Flint’s Pond, which abuts a portion of Sandy Pond Road, according to Darin LaFalam, Water Department superintendent. This could be due to mineral deposits in the Tower Road groundwater, he said.

“Detected levels of sodium are well within recommended limits. Nonetheless, people restricted to sodium intake of 500 mg/day due to health issues such as high blood pressure, heart disease, or kidney failure should discuss with their doctors whether to drink Lincoln water,” the town’s 2020 report notes.

For healthy Americans, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends consuming no more than 2,300 mg per day of sodium. In comparison, a liter of water from the Lincoln well contained a maximum of 54.5 mg in 2020. More than 70% of dietary sodium comes from processed and restaurant food, with 14% from naturally occurring sources and 11% from salt added during cooking or at the table.

Water from the well and pond water is not tested at different times of year, so it’s impossible to know whether sodium levels vary by season (for example, whether there’s more in the winter from road runoff into the pond). It was not immediately clear whether sodium levels in Lincoln’s drinking water have been steady, rising, or falling over the years.

“We will put this on the next Water Commission agenda to discuss whether there’s anything useful we can do. We need to take our time to understand the whole area of salt in groundwater,” Hendrickson said.

My Turn: Hendrickson runs for another term on Water Commission

Editor’s note: Jim Hutchinson was elected to a three-year term on the Water Commission in 2021. He is stepping down early to run for the Select Board.

Dear Lincolnites,

I am writing today to announce my intention to run again for Water Commissioner and ask for your vote at the town election on Monday, March 28. I will run for the two years remaining on Jim Hutchinson’s seat rather than the three-year seat that will also be open.

Jim brought an impressive knowledge of municipal finances that greatly benefitted the commission. We are sad to see him go, but we are committed to using his ideas to improve Water Department operation and long term planning.

In 2020 I was elected to a two-year seat, and I did not expect to run again. I have been finding, however, that the knowledge I have gained during the last 11 years on the commission has been very useful to the new superintendent. Also, with Jim stepping down early, we will have a new commissioner to integrate into the board. I believe my presence will provide the continuity and institutional knowledge needed as we reshape the commission.  

During these next two years I will focus on completing the water treatment facilities upgrade we launched four years ago, taking advantage of the ARPA funds available to update our aging water delivery systems, and developing a long-term funding structure that will be both fair and fiscally responsible. Above all, I am committed to ensuring the delivery of abundant, safe drinking water to all of our customers.

I truly enjoy working on the Water Commission and I am committed to help in preserving this important natural resource for the benefit of the town. I hope the voters will give me another opportunity to serve the town I love so well.

Sincerely,

Ruth Ann Hendrickson

“My Turn” is a forum for readers to offer their letters to the editor or views on any subject of interest to other Lincolnites. Submissions must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Items will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Submissions containing personal attacks, errors of fact, or other inappropriate material will not be published.

MassDOT goof apparently led to water main break

A water main break on Route 2A that left many north Lincoln residents without potable water for several hours on Monday was not due to old pipes — concrete at the base of a signpost recently installed by MassDOT workers apparently punctured the main.

Phone calls (about 40 in all) began pouring into the Water Department even as two staff members spotted the leak as they drove by on other business. “Great job by them not dismissing standing water on the side of the road,” Water Department Superintendent Darin LaFalam said. 

MassDOT had installed a concrete base for the new signpost down to a depth of five and a half feet — the same depth as the top of the water main and directly over it, he said. “The recent windy weather must have rocked the sign, wearing a hole in the main. But the main itself appeared to be in good shape.”

The department quickly shut off the main and workers from the DPW, Water Department and a private contractor quickly made repairs, getting the water turned back on at 3:30 p.m.

“Since their infrastructure damaged our infrastructure, I’ll see if I can get MassDOT to cover the cost of the repairs,” LaFalam said. “I invited them out to view the depth of their sign base and underground obstacles in that area while the pit was open, and they did send someone out to take a look.”

Panel opts to stay the course with current water treatment plant

The Water Commission voted to stay the course with the current water treatment plant after analyzing a consultant’s report that also examined the pros and cons of building a new plant or applying to join the MWRA system.

The commission will also hold a public forum on its Annual Town Meeting budget requests via Zoom on Tuesday, May 11 at 6:30 p.m. (see below).

A cost summary of there three options studied by Tata and Howard (click image to enlarge).

In the wake of skyrocketing spending in recent years for modernizing the water treatment plant, which is based on older technology, Tata and Howard presented costs and benefits of three paths forward in a draft report in February:

  1. Keeping the existing plant and paying for whatever future upgrades it may need
  2. Building a new and larger plant using current technology that’s better able to cope with current and emerging contaminants
  3. Decommissioning the plant and applying to get town water from the MWRA

According to the report, a new plant would cost between $17.4 and $20.6 million, while connecting to the MWRA through one of the adjacent member towns would cost $8 million. A new plant would also have to be sited on a separate piece of property since it would have to be built while the current plant is still operating. The land nearby on Sandy Pond Road is town-owned but is conservation land., so using any of that would require finding an equivalent amount of land elsewhere in town to put into conservation to compensate.

Former Conservation Director Thomas Gumbart said he had been approached about taking land out of conservation for municipal service and “strongly warned” that conservation land is not meant to be “a municipal land bank,” Water Commission member Michelle Barnes relayed at the panel’s February 25 meeting.

The likelihood that the MWRA would accept an application from Lincoln is very low, because the town already has an adequate supply of drinking water, and it would be unprecedented for a community to be accepted purely on financial grounds.

Opting for a new plant or joining the MWRA doesn’t make sense at this point because after next year, relatively little money will have to be spent on the current plant, compared to the large amounts of capital investment required for the other two options, Commission Chair Jim Hutchinson said at the group’s April 12 meeting when it voted unanimously to stay with the existing approach.

About $3.62 million must be spent on capital projects between now and 2042 to keep the current plant running, according to the report. A new plant would cost an estimated $478,000 per year to operate and maintain, compared to $348,000 a year for the existing plant and more than $1 million annually if Lincoln went with the MWRA. The MWRA’s annual assessments are slated to rise by 3.9% per year for the next 10 years, Hutchinson noted.

Although sticking with the status quo makes sense for now, the commission may find itself revisiting the MWRA option sometime in the next 20 years when the current treatment plants nears the end of its useful life, Barnes said. The group will redo its analysis every 10 years “as the time approaches to do a major overhaul on the water treatment plan to see if a different decision would make sense in the future,” member Ruth Ann Hendrickson said this week.

One of the concerns about staying with the current plant was whether it would be able to handle the increased levels of TTHM even after the upcoming installation of a new $680,000 coagulation system. Levels have been slowly rising over the years as an indirect result of more organic matter in Flint’s Pond, which may be due to warming temperatures.

The new coagulation system should take care of the problem, but if necessary, the plant could switch to treating the water with a different class of chemicals called chloramines. This would require advance public notification because chloramines must first be removed from water before it can be used in fish tanks and for dialysis.

Budget forum on Tuesday

The Water Department’s budget requests for the coming fiscal year include $1.88 million in operating costs (a 2.5% increase over this year’s total) as well as $907,600 in capital spending, which will necessitate borrowing $830,000 if approved.

The larger of the two capital items is $480,000 to replace the Tower Road well, pump, and piping. During the dry months, the maximum yield of the well (which came online in the 1960s) is limited because of the age, style, and condition of the existing well screen where raw water iron and manganese collect, and cleaning capabilities are limited.

The Water Department’s proposed operating and capital budgets for the fiscal year beginning in July (click image to enlarge).

This year, the Water Commission formally reviewed its budget plans with the Finance Committee and the Capital Planning Committee as the town requested, although it wasn’t required to do so because it is a separate entity funded entirely by user fees. The request came after huge budget increase and borrowing in 2019 and 2020 and staffing for both the department and its overseeing commission were in flux. Former Finance Commission chair Jim Hutchinson was elected to the commission last year and is now the chair.

There will be no increase in water usage rates or base fees next year. Going forward, the commission is “striving to get back to a more ‘steady state’ level of requests for FY23,” Hutchinson said last month, though some capital spending is to be expected every year. In April 2020, water usage rates were hiked by 28% and base charges went up 43% in addition to the borrowing, while the operating budget request rose by 38%.

Click here for the Zoom link for the May 11 forum, or go to the Annual Meeting web page for links to this and other presentations ahead of the May 15 Town Meeting.

Capital spending requests on tap for Wednesday presentation

Capital spending requests that residents will vote at at Town Meeting on May 15 include funds for school furniture and equipment, a public safety radio system, and a new town well.

The Capital Planning Committee (CapCom) and the Community Preservation Committee (CPC) will host a joint Zoom presentation on their proposals on Wednesday, April 28 at 7:30 p.m. Click here for the agenda, which includes the Zoom link as well as brief descriptions of each item.

CapCom is proposing a total of $2,762,310 in two separate warrant articles that will be up for a vote on May 15. Article 7 seeks $937,695 for nine items. The single largest request is $410,557 for furniture and technology needs for the renovated Lincoln School that were cut earlier to stay within the construction budget. The only other six-figure item is $380,000 to refurbish the Fire Department’s ladder truck.

In a separate vote, CapCom will ask for $1,824,615 to replace the fire and police department’s public radio system. That item was originally considered for approval at the the 2020 Town Meeting but was deferred in favor of restoring some of the cuts to the school project.

The CPC is seeking approval to spend a total of $1,385,646 on 16 items costing $1,281,834 plus $103,812 from the housing reserve fund. Those items include $355,000 to repair the library’s parapet and $307,891 for debt service for the Town Office Building renovations as well as $161,200 for Lincoln School playground equipment and $200,000 for land acquisition.

Water Department funding

The Water Department is seeking capital spending totaling $907,600. That includes about $350,000 to complete a project to reduce total trihalomethanes (TTHM) in the drinking water, since they have been slightly over the state-mandated limit for some time. TTHMs are formed as the result of required chlorine disinfection on pond water with increasing levels of plant matter and algae.

Voters approved spending $330,000 in 2019 for the first phase of the project to install coagulation treatment to filter out more of the organic matter in the pre-treatment phase. The new expenditure will pay for equipment to handle the residuals from the treatment process so the chemicals can be safely released from the water plant without violating its discharge permit.

Water Commission chair Jim Hutchinson said the money needed for this second phase was not brought up last year as a future expense because the final cost was very uncertain at that time. Also, the commission’s Town Meeting presentation was limited to only items to be funded that year at the request of Town Moderator Sarah Cannon Holden in the interest of keeping the meeting short.

Also on the Water Commission’s wish list is $480,000 to replace the aging Tower Road well, which has been on their for several years. The group is hoping to pay for the well and the TTHM system by bonding $830,000. The other items on their capital improvements list will be paid for from Water Department retained earnings.

This is the third bonding request in two years for the Water Department. Voters approved almost $2 million (including the $330,000 for the first part of the TTHM project) in two separate measures in 2019, followed by $225,000 in borrowing voted at the 2020 Town Meeting.

“Much like the town as a whole, the Water Department has regular capital needs that are not properly handled in an operating budget, and need to be requested separately and funded with bonding or reserve funds. And that will continue to be the case going forward,” Hutchinson said. “It is true that the requests made in FY20-21 and that we are making for FY22 are larger than normal, due in part to the department previously falling behind on replacing aging infrastructure and in part due to the TTHM issue. Looking forward, we are striving to get back to a more ‘steady state’ level of requests for FY23, but there is always some amount of uncertainty and potential for surprises about capital needs.”

Water Department capital funding requests
CategoryDescriptionAmountFunding Source
Regulatory compliance with high TTHM levelsResiduals handling & neutralization system upgrades at water treatment plant (WTP) to comply with the EPA’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System discharge permit$350,000* Bonding
Aging infrastructureReplace Tower Road Well (current well cannot pump at desired rates despite aggressive cleanings due to clogged shutter-type screen)$480,000Bonding
Aging infrastructureReplace compressor #2 at WTP (two compressors in service since 1995; replace the one with more hours on it)$25,000Retained earnings
Increase resiliencyInvestigate cost and engineering needed to interconnect with Wayland. A backup water source is needed for our emergency response plan.$13,600Retained earnings
Increase resiliencyEvaluate current condition of storage tank and reconsider previously proposed solutions to what is currently our sole storage tank. $39,000Retained earnings
Required by Mass. Water Management Act permitConduct water audit to determine what happens to the water we produce. $31,500**Retained earnings
Total water capital projects:$939,100

* Subject to adjustment up until ATM motion is finalized, as T&H work to better define scope of this project.

* The Water Commission voted to remove this item from the warrant pending feedback from the state DEP on the town’s previous numbers.

My Turn: Water Dept. always available in emergencies

By Ruth Ann Hendrickson

The Water Department has a system in place to serve you if you have need for immediate help. We do not have enough staff to personally answer the phone 24 hours a day, but we do have personnel who are assigned to be “on call.” If you have a leaking water meter or some other water leak that needs immediate attention, do not hesitate to call the Water Department at 781-259-2669 and select option #1 – “Emergency.” This will allow you to contact the on-call person who can arrange for quick resolution of your problem.

Ruth Ann Hendrickson is a member of the Lincoln Water Commission.

”My Turn” is a forum for readers to offer their views on any subject of interest to other Lincolnites. Submissions must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Items will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Submissions containing personal attacks, errors of fact, or other inappropriate material will not be published.

Water Dept. superintendent leaving as town considers future plans for water supply

Water Department Superintendent MaryBeth Wiser has resigned as of Jan. 1, 2021. The change will mean another recruiting push for the embattled department, which has seen budget and personnel turmoil resulting in substantial capital spending and water rate increases.

Wiser said she was retiring in her letter of resignation she sent in September to the Water Commission, which voted to accept it at its November 3 meeting. Wiser did not return a call and email requesting comment.

“From my perspective, [the resignation] was her choice. We double-checked with and gave it due process and an appropriate amount of time to make sure it was not just a fleeting dissatisfaction,” Water Commission Chair Jim Hutchinson said this week.

Almost from the start of her tenure in March 2018, there was conflict between Wiser and the other department employees. Several of them alleged she was unqualified and abusive and complained to town officials about her, according to minutes of the commission’s August 8, 2018 meeting and interviews with the Lincoln Squirrel in October 2019.

But commission member Ruth Ann Hendrickson lauded her accomplishments during a difficult period for the department. “MaryBeth worked her heart out while she was here in Lincoln. She was focused on bringing the department up to the latest standards,” she said. “Everything she did was about improving the quality of the water and the management structures of the department. She worked incredible hours and was on call 24/7 for months. She never let us down and did her best to keep everything running. For that, the commissioners will always be grateful.”

Since Wiser’s arrival, the Water Department has spent millions on capital projects to replace aging equipment as well as for outside consultants to cope with staff vacancies after several resignations amid an ongoing statewide shortage of qualified operators. As a result, the town has approved loans totaling almost $2 million, and the department’s operating budget for the current fiscal year is 38% higher than last year’s. Customers also saw water rates hikes of 25% in 2019 and 28% in 2020.

At her most recent annual review in August, the Water Commission “commended Superintendent Wiser for her tremendous efforts and very long hours this past year” and said it “greatly values Ms. Wiser’s strong initiative, dependability, and loyalty” as well as her understanding of water science and state regulations pertaining to public water supplies. The commission identified budget management, personnel management, and communications as areas in which she needed improvement.

Hiring date for new superintendent unclear

If past history is any indication, it could take some time to fill the superintendent opening. The job posting offers a salary of $96,506 to $111,878, “but we don’t know yet what we’ll need to pay,” Hutchinson said. The town had to raise its salary offer to fill at least one of the earlier vacancies.

The future superintendent will also need additional qualifications to oversee new pretreatment coagulation equipment that’s about to be installed. That equipment will solve a problem stemming from the fact that Flint’s Pond has twice the level of organic matter as it did when the plant was designed in 2002. Meanwhile, the department plans to seek more capital spending in the next fiscal year to replace the aging Tower Road well.

“It behooves us to get a strong candidate to keep the department back on track as we’ve labored to do in the last year,” Hutchinson said. However, because of the job requirements and ongoing shortage of qualified candidates, it’s quite possible that Assistant Town Administrator Dan Pereira may have to step in after Wiser’s departure as acting superintendent for the administrative side of the job.

What’s down the road?

Thanks to the recent and upcoming expenditures, the water treatment plant will soon be almost like new — but the commission and new superintendent will still have to grapple with the future direction of Lincoln’s public water supply. Consultants Tata and Howard are expected to deliver a preliminary report next month outlining three options: continue to upgrade and modernize the existing plant, build a new plant with a more modern design that’s less costly to operate, or join the MWRA and get its water from the Quabbin Reservoir.

The current plant was “one of the first of its kind… it’s old technology,” Hendrickson said. “Every five or six years, these plants need to be overhauled, and even if we decided today to join the MWRA, it would take about five years, so it’s a good time to start this study.”