BELCHERTOWN, Mass. (State House News Service) – As House Democrats eye the expansion of its public drinking water service area, the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority is considering whether the communities where that water comes from should finally get to reap the benefits of the system.
Tree pollen levels in western Mass.
The MWRA board is undertaking a preliminary study to direct water from the Quabbin Reservoir — which provides Boston and other eastern Massachusetts communities with drinking water — to the western Mass. towns that surround and protect the reservoir.
The agency currently provides wholesale water and sewer services to 3.1 million people and more than 5,500 businesses in 61 communities in eastern and central Massachusetts, though the system’s primary source, the Quabbin Reservoir, lies in the western part of the state.
“The Quabbin Reservoir provides life for eastern Massachusetts and allows the eastern part of the state to grow and expand — and yet for far too long, far too long, the recompense for towns that steward this water has been a pittance relative to the value,” Sen. Jo Comerford of Northampton said last year.