Town Manager John Carroll Addresses Future Drinking Water Security at Public Forum-November 15, 1979

State Environmental Officials and Neponset Conservation Association Warn of Industrial Contamination and Septic Additives

NORWOOD – Speaking at a joint public forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters and the Women’s Community Committee, Town Manager John J. Carroll reassured residents that Norwood currently faces no immediate water supply shortage, but cautioned that municipal planners must look ahead to the day when the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) can no longer fulfill the town’s growing water needs. Carroll predicted that Norwood will eventually need to draw drinking water from the Ellis Well Field and Buckmaster Pond, both of which have recently been found to be contaminated with cancer-causing chemicals.

While noting that the MDC will not cut off water in the interim, Carroll emphasized that the MDC system is already overdrawn and incapable of expansion. A forthcoming feasibility report from engineering consultants Fay, Spofford and Thorndike will evaluate the high cost of rejuvenating the contaminated local supplies, though Carroll noted that utilizing Ellis Well Field and Buckmaster Pond may still be five to twenty-five years away. Echoing these concerns, Thomas McLoughlin of the state Department of Environmental Quality Engineering (DEQE) and Waldo Holcombe of the Neponset Conservation Association addressed chemical waste dumping and the environmental hazards posed by commercial septic tank cleaners, warning that chemical contaminants threaten vulnerable groundwater reserves across the Commonwealth.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger