Works begins to improve Westport water

Kleinfelder Pare Corporation held its first community meeting and was joined by members of the health, select and Planning Boards, as well as members of the Beach Committee and the Westport River Watershed Alliance and other groups.

WESTPORT — There are some homes in town with unsafe drinking water.

There is nitrogen in the East Branch of the Westport River and failed septic systems in town, according to planning officials.

The Route 6 corridor has been eyed for more business activity but more access to public water and sewer lines would be needed.

Town officials are mulling over these issues, and started with a standing-room only kickoff meeting with an engineering firm that is conducting an integrated water resource management plan.

Kleinfelder Pare Corporation held its first community meeting and was joined by members of the health, select and Planning Boards, as well as members of the Beach Committee and the Westport River Watershed Alliance and other groups.

Besty Frederick, a project leader with the engineering firm, led the meaning and framed it by stating the purpose right now is to identify problems and generate goals.

“We are committed to getting this done,” Frederick said. We will get back something to a working group and then back to selectmen for next fiscal year.”

Frederick said the entire process will take around 11 months. She mentioned that there will be other workshops but right now the goal is simply to come up with goals.

Planning Board Vice Chairman Robert Daylor prefaced the meeting with that point, saying that engineers were looking for valuable input.

Other group engineers mentioned that alternatives and a rank of alternatives will also be produced.

If all goes well, warrant articles for fiscal 2020 could go before Town Meeting.

Frederick pressed officials and residents to come up with goals, and asserted that if the goals do not lead to results for the town, the entire process will be regarded as a failure.

Former Selectmen Antone Vieira Jr., a third-generation farmer, urged residents and officials to stop blaming farmers for some of the river issues. The east branch of the Westport River has a nitrogen load 18 percent over allowable limits, according to a state Department of Environmental Protection. This 2015 report has led to this water study.

Vieira indicated that farmers, farm animals and fertilizers have unfairly been blamed. Vieira said that there is a misconception that “farmers are not stewards of the land.” He said the farmers are under strict state protocols for fertilizer use and can’t “afford to over fertilize.”

Vieira referenced a feud that once pitted farmers against fishermen, with both groups blaming the other for river pollution.

“I would hope we can go forward, with the strength of fishing and with the strength of agriculture, and do it in a way so we don’t offend people,” Vieira, adding, “Otherwise, we are going back to the Hatfields and McCoys.”

Vieira mentioned how some municipal projects have not moved forward with the newer denitrification systems.

Phil Weinberg, of the health board, said that speaks to another problem. He said that environmentally friendly options are often more expensive.

“We need economic mechanisms that allow people to choose the right environmental outcomes,” Weinberg said. “Some of the right environmental outcomes are the most costly.”

WRWA Executive Director Deborah Weaver was one of a few participants who mentioned that there should be more educational opportunities for residents and school children. She said the school district should become involved and students should learn how septic systems work, and how some of these issues are created.

Resident Cynthia Anderson spoke about litter at town beaches and other aesthetic issues. She also spoke about her Gifford Road property’s issues in which a drainage issue, started five decades ago from the building of the elementary school, could be impacting the river.

Anderson said greater awareness should be a priority. Anderson said that before she moved to town, people all over lauded Westport as an aesthetically priceless area.

“This is our town and if you don’t appreciate it when people 500 miles away will tell you this is the place to be. … It leads to a sense of entitlement. You are lacking and not teaching the kids to appreciate it.”

Planning Board Chairman James Whitin and resident Tom Davenport pushed for measurable goals, such as a timeline for reducing the nitrogen levels in the river or a timeline for accomplished tasks.

Selectmen Chairwoman Shana Shufelt contended that she hopes people see river pollution as a town-wide problem that affects everyone.

“For a lot of groups talking about nitrogen in the river — it is perceived as the rich people’s problems and people with the boats and not really a town wide problem and we want to make sure that with this group, we can connect it to everyone,” Shufelt said.

An RFP that helped land Kleinfelder details those issues.

The proposal mentions how the town’s reliance on private wells and septic systems — save a small enclave off Route 6 using Fall River water — is at the root of the water issues.

“The consequences of the lack of infrastructure and water resources are: a history of questionable drinking water quality and supply in some neighborhoods; and an overall degradation of the water quality in the Westport River from nitrogen and periodic bacterial contamination in the groundwater and surface water contributions to the river,” it read.

Town Meeting earlier this year approved using $30,000 from the town’s Community Preservation Act funds, as well as $150,000 from a revolving fund to pay for this study and plan.