After a month of residents in western Massachusetts speaking out, state officials have withdrawn a plan to draw even more water from the Quabbin Reservoir.
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The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority says it has officially withdrawn an application that, if approved, would have seen an extra 20 million gallons of water per day withdrawn from the Quabbin Reservoir and other parts of the largely western Mass.-based reservoir system.
In a statement Thursday, an official with the state’s Office of Water Resources said over a thousand comments on the proposal had been submitted by the public. Critics of the plan included residents in the Quabbin communities seen as stewards of the watershed.
Long-running frustrations over how Quabbin water largely serves communities in eastern Massachusetts spilled over. Local leaders and residents also indicated such frustration was compounded by an alleged lack of details over which communities would likely need the additional water.
In a letter explaining the application’s withdrawal, MWRA Interim Executive Director Stephen Estes-Smargiassi said the MWRA “heard the concerns regarding the analysis and the process surrounding” the proposal.
“We take those concerns seriously,” Stephen Estes-Smargiassi went on to say. “As stewards of an essential regional water resource, we recognize the importance of maintaining the confidence and trust of the Quabbin communities that have protected and supported the Quabbin watershed for generations.”
State officials say that, between the Quabbin Reservoir and Wachusett Reservoir in Central Mass., close to 200 million gallons per day are supplied to communities served by the MWRA – largely on the other side of the state with some exceptions.
The Quabbin can hold up to 412 billion gallons of water – though water levels vary throughout the year.
