Norton's Water Problem More Than Just Water
by Bill Gouveia for the Sun Chronicle
In Norton, the water many citizens have coming into their homes is absolutely awful. The governmental authority responsible for overseeing delivery of that water is arguably worse.
If you don’t know what I’m talking about, just Google “Norton Dirty Water” and do some clicking and reading. What you’ll see is nothing short of disgusting. Yet the argument can be made the horrible water is not even the biggest problem in the system.
Norton’s multimillion dollar Water/Sewer Department is overseen by a three-member elected water/sewer board. Over many years, the responsibilities of these part-time, public spirited volunteers have grown to levels never anticipated when it was originally created.
An independently elected board, they do not come under the centralized authority of the town manager. They are not obligated to work in concert with the board of selectmen or other town entities — though they often do. They are ultimately responsible for the multi-million-dollar water/sewer department’s enterprise account, which is not subject to town meeting approval as other budgets are.
Forget for a moment the recent large expenditures for a new water treatment plant, long delayed by the state because of possible archeological issues on the site. Forget the messy way former commissioners worked with other towns and the state to build the Mansfield Treatment Plant, located in Norton, which the town pays to use.
Norton’s town meeting unanimously approved an additional $1 million a few weeks ago to finish the long-delayed plant in order to get rid of the dirty water. Now they might be asked to provide an additional $400,000 or more for a project along Route 123 that is expected to run over budget for reasons many believe should have been anticipated by those overseeing it.
Norton does not have a DPW. Although it has consolidated many smaller departments into the general responsibilities of the highway department, the town continues to suffer from a lack of centralized authority and responsibility on the water/sewer side. But it is difficult to blame commissioners, past or present, for that.
On several occasions over the years, Norton voters have declined to eliminate the water board, or bring it under the authority of the town manager by making it an appointed committee. But they have changed the board of health, tax collector, town treasurer, and town clerk positions to appointed ones for similar reasons.
Within the past couple years, voters at Town Meeting overwhelmingly defeated an article to eliminate the elected water/sewer commission. The argument against it was elected officials are more accountable to voters than appointed ones.
Norton water is not brown because the water/sewer commission is an elected board. But the lack of a unified, centralized approach to protecting and distributing Norton’s most precious natural resource has clearly produced negative results over the last half-century or so.
Norton needs to fix its water. A critical first step would be to fix the way the system is managed and led. There simply is no need for an elected water/sewer commission that gives the appearance of accountability, while actually preventing it.
The solution to Norton’s water problems starts at the top, not the tap.
Bill Gouveia is a local columnist and longtime local official. He can be emailed at billsinsidelook@gmail.com and followed on Twitter at @Billinsidelook.
1 comment:
Thank You Bill. The more this subject is brought to attention, the sooner it will be addressed properly . Claire
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