Water Safety

 Atkins Reservoir, Amherst/Shutesbury line

 How safe is our drinking water?

According to the recently mailed 15th annual Town of Amherst Drinking Water Quality Report -- fine reading on a hot summer day -- the public water supply for our little town is perfectly safe.  I'll drink to that.

Every major test parameter (Inorganic substances, radioactive contaminants, disinfection residuals) tested below "violation" level. 

Amherst has a "complicated" water distribution system: two surface reservoirs, one located on Amherst/Shutesbury border (Atkins) and the other in Pelham, and five ground wells located in the Lawrence Swamp.

Operating at full capacity the system is capable of pumping out just over 6 million gallons of treated water daily.

 

Pelham Reservoir system

Last year average demand was 2.65 million gallons per day with peak demand occurring on July 19th, a thirst requiring 4.185 million gallons of water to quench.  UMass is our #1 consumer of water absorbing 31.04% of total, although they were not in session on the day of peak demand. 

In 2002 the state performed a Source Water Assessment and Protection (SWAP) report for the town outlining common sense water protection methods for keeping the system safe, mainly by controlling/owning the land immediately around the water source (400 feet), called Zone 1.

In 2005 Tighe & Bond did a "Public Water Protection Plan" for the town which pretty much mirrored the SWAP report from three years earlier, where the main concern was dealing with inappropriate land use (industrial, farming, homes with septic systems, etc) too near the water supply.

Interestingly -- even though both studies are post 9/11 -- neither of them addresses sabotage.  Both reservoirs are located within spitting distance of paved roads, so it would be easy to drive a pick up truck almost directly up to the unguarded body of water and unload whatever you please.

 Atkins Reservoir with nearby road

Sure Atkins is pretty b-i-g with a maximum capacity of 200 million gallons.   However, if you dissolve in that body of water 1760 pounds (thirty-five 50 pound bags) of something, say arsenic, it would reach a level of one part per million.

EPA regulations for arsenic in drinking water set a maximum of ten parts per billion.

Massachusetts State Police briefly detained seven college aged trespassers (one of them from Amherst) around the Quabbin Reservoir almost two months ago, immediately setting off terrorism concerns.

Should you be concerned?  Probably not.  Highly unlikely anyone would try to poison an entire town.

But then, 12 years ago it was also highly unlikely anyone would hijack civilian commercial airliners and fly them into buildings.

 Atkins Reservoir

A Road Too Far

 

Farview Way, North Amherst

Longtime town resident Allan Carpenter went before the Pubic Works Committee two weeks ago to lobby in behalf of all the residents living on his street.

His modest single family home was built in 1914, four years after the town constructed Farview Way, and he and his wife purchased it in 1952.

This road has not a major renovation since LBJ was President.  For you non-history majors that was in 1964.

Currently, in addition to Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter 17 other single family homes are sprinkled all along Farview Way with a combined assessed value of a little over $5 million, generating $100,000 in property tax revenues paid to the Town annually.

The Public Works Committee was attentive and polite to Mr. Carpenter but offered no hope on the horizon for repaving Farview Way.

Sure the Governor recently cut in half Chapter 90 (road repair) monies,  sending many DPW chiefs into a paroxysm of disbelief.  Amherst was originally promised $1.2 million back when the weather was still cold; although fortunately, we only budgeted for $500,000.

Still, we will end up receiving $618,000.

And since President Obama declared Massachusetts a "disaster area" after the monster snow storm last February, the town should also be seeing an extra $100,000 or so in federal monies.  

Either way, not much consolation for residents of Farview Way. 

Expensive Tools

 US Navy has Battleships, AFD has Ladder Trucks, and the DPW has Dump Trucks.  Big ones

Today's snowstorm would have provided a better backdrop for Amherst DPW Director Guilford Mooring's appearance before the Joint Capital Planning Committee, initial gatekeepers for all capital equipment purchases in the upcoming fiscal year.

Yesterday morning Mooring pitched the needs of his department (besides $2 million in operations) with the most expensive item, "the backbone of his fleet," a $150,000 dump truck.

Those really B-I-G dump trucks.  And his #1 priority.  Plus $20,000 for sander & plow attachments.

The town currently has six of these trucks on the road.

The new truck is to replace an 17-year-old dead one that lost its firewall due to corrosion. The steering wheel fell into the drivers lap -- while he was driving!

 Rotted out firewall

Also high on the list and expensive @ $130,000, is a bucket truck used to change light bulbs and perform other work that requires a safe stable platform high in the air.

Amherst recently received a $302,000 Green Community award energy grant, and will be relamping the entire town with energy efficient LED lights.  So the current, tired, ten-year-old bucket truck may not survive.

 Bucket truck at rest

Coming in 3rd on the list and a lot less expensive is a $40,000 special trash/recycling bed for a one ton pickup truck to make downtown clean up more efficient.  A natural compliment to the renewed effort via the Business Improvement District to attract consumers to the heart of downtown Amherst.

With 28 square miles of terrain to maintain, Amherst upkeep is a 24/7 endeavor.  You may not notice the routine work the DPW performs day-in and day-out, but you notice it instantly when it does not get done.

And doing a job right requires the right tools.

No Escape

 Equinox crossover with town seal

Since Ford discontinued the more politically correct hybrid Escape the town had to search elsewhere for a new set of wheels.  This crossover Chevy Equinox, with good gas mileage, fit the bill.  Either way, American made cars for our little all American town.

The Equinox looks a lot nicer as well than the more boxy Escape;  and the town seal -- a book and plow -- really radiates off a pristine white background.

Amherst town seal: a book and a plow

Although, the new town flag logo would also look nice.

Amherst Town Flag

Safe Routes to Schools?

 Strong Street, just before Wildwood Elementary School

The $280,000  state funded "Safe Routes To Schools" project in and around Wildwood Elementary and Amherst Regional Middle School that will "include upgraded wheelchair ramps, new pavement markings, new traffic and pedestrian warning signs, and some minor drainage modifications" use thermoplastic for line markings.

You can tell because the markings are a tad brighter, and will last a lot longer than the paint the town uses, but is, apparently, more slippery than paint when wet. 

Of course these hieroglyphics have been in since late July and thus far no reports of downed cyclist.

Fade to Black (top)

 Big Y supermarket entrance University Drive

The road renovation/redesign at the Big Y entrance on University Drive commenced last year and only finished last month when the new traffic control signals finally switched on.  So some of you may be wondering why the white traffic lane markings are already fading?

According to one of our engineers, "There is a lot of remaining oils in the fresh pavement so the new paint doesn’t stick very well."  Which is why the state always uses thermoplastic, a special heavy duty goo that adheres better than paint, lasts five to ten times longer and is more visible...but is of course more expensive. 

And some would say a tad too slippery when wet.

No not to your car, but to bicycles and pedestrians.   A few years ago the DPW installed bike lanes around town using thermoplastic and were roundly criticized by a bicycle enthusiast or two about the lines being slippery when wet.

So ever since, when the town does a road project, the markings are made with cheap paint that easily fades: By Sisyphus with a paint brush.

Take No Prisoners

 Butternut Tree on Shays Street in the public way

Normally I would say anything left leaning will have a long and happy life in the People's Republic of Amherst--just not when it's a tree leaning in the direction of a utility powerline.  For instance, take this butternut on Shays Street--which they are about to do.


Amherst Tree warden Alan Snow gave me a demonstration last week of an inspection double-check on trees marked for death by Western Mass Electric Co. This butternut, besides the lean, has a host of problems--exposed roots, bug bore damage, rip away bark, and a couple of splits he could put his hand in.

Sure he could insist that WMECO simply trim off the overhanging limb as the tree would most likely survive...for now. Until all the other problems meet up with a major storm.

 Tree Warden and DPW division director of trees and parks, Alan Snow

Being judge/jury/executioner for the town's tree canopy is a tough job--perhaps made even tougher by  town meeting approval for 2,000 new trees. Healthy trees--even beautiful old historic ones--are now more subject to extermination for the convenience of developers and the utilities simply because they are so easily replaced by new ones, although a lot less beautiful and historic.

Therefor it's even more imperative we have someone who will speak for the trees.

Construction Continues

In addition to the Atkins Corner reconstruction in South Amherst, the sudden bridge closing in North Amherst, now we have East Amherst joining the growing list of projects bringing headaches to commuters.

The town is closing off Amherst Road during weekday business hours for the sewer line extension up into Pelham.  The state is also scheduled to renovate/replace the Pelham Road Bridge which is located at the half-way point along the sewer line project. 

And yes, we still have the Snell Street Bridge replacement coming soon in the western part of Amherst closing off that busy road.  Let's hope they do not all converge into one BIG perfect, dusty, storm.

The Yucky Underbelly

Mill Street Bridge North Amherst 

I guess now you know why Amherst closed the Mill Street Bridge.  But you do have to wonder why it took six months from the date of a state inspection that uncovered safety concerns to actually let the town know the bridge was dangerous.

Mill Street Bridge Northern side

                                                    Mill Street Bridge southwest end

Mill Street Bridge southeast end

DPW was removing this sign and replacing it with a "bridge closed" sign this morning

Let There be Light

So its taken over a year but the traffic lights in front of busy Big Y Supermarket are, finally, working.  After all these years of drivers relying on courtesy and common sense it will be interesting to see if automation is an improvement.

DPW electrician Fred Hartwell making the connections last week

Gloomy Norwegian Outlook

Norway Spruce dead center is now a Dead Tree Standing

So this majestic fifty-year-old Norway Spruce will fall in order to make way for a more conveniently located driveway that routes traffic onto Railroad Street rather than busy College Street (RT9), although since the other end of Railroad Street is blockaded by owners New England Central Railroad, tenants will still have to enter/exit onto busy Rt 9.

 Closed end of Railroad Street 

Last night the Amherst Shade Tree Committee voted against the removal (3-1-1) of a healthy tree at 166 College Street,  however Amherst Tree Warden Alan Snow overruled the committee and allowed the whacking, but with conditions that a "new tree is planted where the old driveway was located and an inch per inch replacement value for the loss of the healthy public shade tree."

Current driveway 166 College Street, Amherst

Who would have thought--especially in Amherst--shade trees would be traded like public commodities.

 Less than a week after the hearing

The few, the proud...

 Downtown Amherst 8:45 AM

So this morning, not quite as early as usual, the 29 commemorative flags returned to their lofty perch in the downtown to commemorate Patriots' Day, one of the few (six) "holidays" the flags are allowed to fly free and proud.

Seven days if you count 9/11, but then Amherst only allows that commemoration once every five years, so this will not occur again until 2016, on the fifteenth anniversary.

President Bush called 9/11  "Patriot Day" when signing an executive order for the American flag to fly at half staff every 9/11 for as long as the republic stands, joining only a handful of days remembered in such a mournful way.

Annually, as it should.

Let the grading begin

 Moving "new dirt" at ye old landfill

The Amherst Department of Public Works commenced work on regrading the old landfill off Belchertown Road, a project required by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection as part of capping closure agreement signed in the late 1980s.

A landfill typically settles after organic material decomposes causing the clay cap to sag and allowing rainwater to collect in stagnant pools.  This phase of the regrading should only take a week and the 52 acre tract will start looking as level as a Cape Cod beach.

Of course a level playing field is also conducive to the installation of solar panels, a controversial project strongly opposed by neighbors in the adjacent Amherst Woods housing development who filed suit against the town last year using NIMBY lawyer Michael Pill.

Amherst was one of about 20 communities who took state money for capping with the provision the closed landfill never be used for anything except passive recreation.  A recent bill in the state legislature would nix that condition by making solar farms an acceptable--if not encouraged--use.

Last year Amherst Town Meeting voted overwhelmingly to allow Town Manager John Musante to negotiate a long term agreement with BlueWave Capital, a company founded by John DeVillars, former Secretary of Environmental Affairs for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Today would have been a good day to generate electricity.

 Twins: mountain of dirt in shadow of Holyoke Range

Generator Glut?

 
17.5 KW DPW generator: Scrap metal.

The fiscal fallout from the freak Halloween weekend storm continues as department wish lists includes back up generators as part of their capital requests for the next fiscal year.

The Jones Library Trustees are seeking $105,000 for two units, one 500 KW unit @ $82,000  for the main downtown library and another 30 KW unit @ $23,000 for the tiny North Amherst branch plus another $20,000 for installation, for a grand total of $125,000.

Town Hall is slated for a $85,000 generator (a Town Manager request therefor a slam dunk), as key components of command and control are located there--namely the main wireless Internet routers,  with emitters sitting atop street lights--and tied into their power--around Town Hall.

When the power went off the night of the storm the downtown wi-fi went down, although the town website did not go dark, as the server is located in Holyoke. 

 Wi-fi emitter Spring Street Parking lot (uses power from streetlight)

The nearby Police Station, where 911 dispatch is located, has a generator which fortunately did its critical job during the extended outage.  The DPW was not as fortunate as their generator failed to function, but Mass Emergency Management Agency managed to get four rented generators delivered from a Springfield firm by Sunday late afternoon. 

The DPW is requesting $15,000 to replace that ailing unit with a new one in the 30 KW range.  Since DPW trucks were critical as first responders clearing the streets of snow and storm debris, and since gas pumps at the "the barn" require electricity to pump fuel, a working generator is--according to the itemized Capital Project Request--a "very high priority".

The generator at the Centennial Water Treatment Plant also doesn't work and is scheduled for replacement as part of a $4 million overhaul of the entire plant. On the day of the storm Centennial was off line and acting as a simple water tower to help keep pressure in the system.

A small booster pump (without generator back up) is the weak link. When that failed even light Sunday demand drew down water in the Centennial tank and, ominously, water pressure began to fall...

Luckily the Atkins Treatment Plant and Well #3 had working generators, otherwise town folks would have had to drink something other than water. 

Thirteen years ago in the hysterical run up to the new Millennium, then Town Manager Barry Del Castilho became overly influenced by a Happy Valley volunteer "Y2K Citizens Committee" chaired by a UMass secretary who relied on the early day Internet for research pointing to a doomsday scenario.

Del Castilho tried to browbeat the Finance Committee into using emergency reserve funds to finance a $60,000 back up generator for the downtown Bangs Community Center.  When that failed to spark enthusiasm, he talked the Select Board into placing the request as a stand alone article on the annual spring 1999 Town Meeting warrant.

In a rare rebuke for Del Castilho, the article fell short by a 20 vote margin, 81-61 (6/9/99) .  Of course New Year's Day 2000 dawned without airplanes falling out of the sky, and the power in downtown Amherst never faltered...until the night of October 29, 2011.

Like Bangs Community Center, the Jones Library does not have a generator--but then neither do the adjacent Ann Whalen Apartments or Clark House, subsidized rental units managed by the Amherst Housing Authority with a high concentration of senior citizens.  

 Jones Library 11/1/11

The North Amherst Library is not even worth considering because it's exceedingly small (under 1,000 square feet) and not ADA compliant.  The Jones Library is large and centrally located but no more so than the Amherst Police Department or Town Hall.

 Ann Whalen Apartments

When asked if Library officials have had a conversation with the Town Manager or other department heads to coordinate shared planning for emergencies like the October snowstorm, Library Director Sharon Sharry answered quietly, "No".

Safe to say the Joint Capital Planning Committee, or Town Meeting, will pull the plug on the Library's expensive wish.  And if it's that important to them, they can always tap their $7.5 million endowment. 

Amherst Bulletin Generator Column 1999  (back when I was a paid MSM journalist)

Water, Water, Everywhere...

McClellan Street 10:30 AM

The Department of Public Works is not often thought of as "first responders" like AFD or APD, but this morning their quick response became vital, with a water main break just off town center causing water pressure to drop town wide.

Since the town has instituted a water/sewer fund price increase for the upcoming fiscal year perhaps town officials should look at improving the aging infrastructure to avoid such inconveniences in the future.

A fitting tribute

"We need you" indeed

Tragically, townie and long time DPW employee Timothy Banks passed away--as sudden as it was surprising--on Thanksgiving Day.

Timmy meticulously parked his car in a certain spot at the DPW.

Nobody parked there today.

Timothy H. Banks, Jr. Obit on right.

UPDATE: Wednesday morning 10:30 AM. The normally overflowing DPW parking lot is all but abandoned as fellow workers attend the funeral.

DPW parking lot. Missing man formation.

It's begining to look a lot like

The Barn

Who needs a barometer; I have my neighbor, the DPW. Today they broke out the free sand pile, telling me winter is coming (or maybe it was the snow squall last night.)

Batten down the hatches!

Amherst DPW workers prepare for the worst as hellacious Hurricane Irene bears down on the Happy Valley. Scary when you consider "the barn" is already built like a proverbial brick outhouse.

Come fly with me

The twins: Marchy and Bergy (after Bruins hockey players)

In addition to the green shirted DPW workers the Amherst Transfer Station also attracts red tailed hawks. The proud mother and father have nested there for over a decade and every year as the weather grows ever hotter, give birth to cute little offspring. This year the kids chose the leaf pile as a playpen.

The twins were born two weeks ago. Mom and Dad will be pushing them out of the tall pine tree fairly soon to make their own way in the world, so if you want to see them up close head out to the transfer station soon.

(Maybe they will take up residence on the old unlined landfill across the street and feed on Grasshopper Sparrows.)

Dad: "Juicy Fruit"

Mom: "Big Red"

Photos by Steve Telega (on his own time)


Please excuse the ad (I could not afford to buy the software)

Solar powered Electric Chair?

This detonation of a backpack nuke at last night's Select Board meeting--publicly suggesting Amherst will be an "accomplice in a capital crime"--was obviated a couple hours later, when reading from a prepared statement during his Town Manger's report, John Musante informs the Select Board he's given up on using DEP approved contaminated soil to regrade the old unlined landfill.

Still, you gotta love Mr. Boothroyd's borrowing from Steve Jobs the "one last thing" intro before dropping the bombshell.



End result? The town losses $250,000 in disposal fees paid in work/equipment barter from the major contractor rebuilding Atkins Corner, who will now have to pay cash to another disposal facility at a greater rate per ton for the 6,000 ton load.

And the town will have to rely on street sweepings and catch basin crud to try to make up the difference for the regrading but will probably have to bring in clean fill at additional cost in labor and cash. All in all, a lose-lose scenario.

Twenty years ago Mr. Keenan enhanced his "fiscal conservative" image by volunteering to clean up pigeon poop from the Town Hall attic after Town Manager Barry Del Castilho (worried about the health of his secretary, who later became his wife) was preparing to spend over $100,000 to have a hazardous waste disposal company clean it up.

And a couple weeks ago Mr. Keenan blew the whistle to DEP about 20-30 barrels of potentially hazardous waste (paint from UMass) that was buried somewhere in the landfill over 25 years ago by town DPW workers.

But if everyone is also so concerned about the integrity of the landfill cap, then why try to force the town into cracking it open to dig for those 20 or 30 needles in a haystack?