Great Barrington — After a nearly two-hour public hearing via Zoom on Thursday, August 15, the Health Board continued its meeting on a potential order against Housatonic Water Works until 6:30 p.m. Thursday, August 22. Thursday’s meeting was the second such hearing on the potential order.

The draft ordinance is being reviewed under Massachusetts General Law Chapter 111 Public Health under Section 122, “Regulations Relating to Nuisances; Investigations,” and Section 123, “Removal of Nuisances by Owner; Penalties.”

The order for correction, as drafted at the hearing, if approved, would require HWW to take several actions, including water quality compliance measures and water testing, and would require HWWW to provide its customers with “an alternative supply of safe drinking water.”

The original draft of the order included a section on random testing of HWW’s water supply. At the Aug. 15 meeting, Health Committee Chair Michael Lanoue said the testing should be done regularly, not randomly.

Michael Hugo, director of policy and government relations for the Massachusetts Association of Health Boards, told the panel that the water samples should be collected by a health department representative. “You’ll probably use the lab in Lee (for water samples) because that’s the closest certified lab,” Hugo said. Hugo was referring to Microbac Laboratories in Lee.

“But I think right now it’s being used by Housatonic Water Works,” Hugo said. “I don’t think you’d want to use the same lab, although you could. You could get the samples to the lab much faster and it would be much more responsive. If you wait seven days and suddenly something terrible happens to the water in the neighborhood and everyone calls on the same day, you’d be at a disadvantage yourself if you could say, ‘We can’t go today because we were just there yesterday.'”

“I would like to see the notice not be as specific as to how (the water samples) are being done, but just say that it is being done in language that allows the board to respond to complaints,” said board member Peter Stanton. “I would like to see us make decisions (regarding testing) later.”

Health Committee member Ruby Chang suggested testing all water from both the customer’s faucet and the HWW water source at Long Pond Reservoir.

Finally, the Board decided to wait to vote on the order until the draft order had been revised taking into account the suggestions of the Board members.

Later in the hearing, HWW Treasurer James Mercer and corporate attorney Robert Cox of the Boston law firm Bowditch & Dewey addressed the board. “The order you’re proposing relies on (Massachusetts General Law Chapter 111 Public Health, Section 122), which empowers the board to issue regulations, but you’re not doing that here,” Cox told the board. “You’re issuing an order, and I’ve heard others call it a coercive order. You’re invoking Chapter 111, Section 123 to issue an order. But that order itself exceeds the authority of the health department. (The U.S. Congress) has spoken here. Congress preempted the area of ​​public drinking water and the regulation of public drinking water decades ago through the Safe Drinking Water Act.”

Cox said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has contracted with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection to run the program. “(The program) is extensive and comprehensive,” Cox said. “It draws on the EPA’s expertise and science, particularly when it comes to contaminants and drinking water, which are exclusive to the EPA.”

“Housatonic Water Works is a regulated public utility, which means our operations, rates and water quality are closely monitored by MassDEP and the Department of Public Utilities,” Mercer added. “As a certified water utility for HWW for 40 years, I can attest to the rigorous standards and procedures that guide our work regarding water quality. MassDEP has extensive oversight, including evaluating any changes to our water treatment.”

Mercer then shared with the panel a testing schedule for contaminants that he said is required by the MassDEP. “Different months, different items, different compounds and different contaminants,” Mercer said. “Every utility gets a list of things to test for, every utility across the country. It’s pretty comprehensive.”

Mercer said the company regularly tests its water supply for manganese and haloacetic acid (HAA5). Both contaminants have been a problem for the company’s water supply for many years, and the company cites manganese as the cause of the water’s brownish color.

Mercer said the company has an independent sampling process in which certified laboratory personnel go to different homes to conduct tests.

“Can you explain to us what you think about the turbidity and brown water that has severely affected the health of the residents of Housatonic?” Chang asked Mercer.

“If you look at our system, it’s a reservoir, so it’s at the mercy of nature,” Mercer said. “Like many utilities in the Northeast, climate change has affected them all.”

Mercer said the company plans to install a greensand filtration system by next summer to address the manganese problems. “Going forward, we won’t have to put up with discoloration in the water,” Mercer said. “The discoloration is not toxic. For the DEP, it’s an aesthetic issue. As far as the timeline goes, we’re working on the design of the filtration system. We’ll approach the board if we need to put up a new building (for the system).”

Board member Chang asked Mercer about responsibility for the HWW system’s pipes. “The Safe Drinking Act says the supplier is responsible (for the pipes) from the source to the faucet,” Chang said. “But is that true? Who is responsible for the private roads or the line that goes from the main road line to the house? You know, who is responsible for those pipes when they need to be replaced or redone?”

“In reference to the Safe Water Drinking Act, which, as we have heard, says that a public water supplier is responsible from the source to the tap,” Lanoue added.

“The domains we own are managed by us,” Mercer said. “There is a service line section on our website, and that indicates where our responsibility to the homeowner or business owner begins.”

Later in the hearing, board member Stanton said, “I feel like we’re here because maybe there hasn’t been enough communication” between the company and its customers. “Maybe if HWW said, ‘Hey, we’ve tested it. Yes, you can expect this brown water. Yes, we expect to fix the problem,'” Stanton said. “But instead, they’re sitting there not feeling safe when they get brown water. Everything from having their clothes destroyed to thinking that drinking or consuming the stuff they’re paying for is something they can’t do or don’t feel safe doing in their home.”

“I would encourage them to look at the test results,” Mercer said. “They speak for themselves.”