Why are there high levels of salt in Andover's drinking water and where is it coming from?
By the end of the fall, the Fish Brook Watershed Advisory Committee hopes to be on the road to answering those questions.
Andover's drinking water has more than three times the amount of sodium chloride recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency. That's a level of salt that can affect personal health, the taste of the water and also increase the corrosion of pipes and faucets, according to committee members.
In April, Town Meeting granted $50,000 in water reserves to the advisory group to build a real-time salt monitoring station at the end of Fish Brook, which connects the town's drinking water supply at Haggetts Pond to the Merrimack River.
While some of the equipment for the station has already been purchased, the committee is waiting on a bid from a contractor before installing probes to detect both salt concentration and the stream's flow.
"We're just waiting on the cost so we can authorize and go forward," said Andover health director and committee member Tom Carbone.
An initial estimate of $75,000 for the project was reduced to $50,000 before Town Meeting.
The plan in the spring had been to install a weir at the monitoring station, though such equipment was "prohibitively expensive" and may have required a permit, said committee Chairman Stephen Boynton.
Boynton said the station will help group members and water treatment plant employees monitor and calculate how much salt moves through the brook.
"You'd be able to see on a screen and it would tell you every second what the salt concentration is," said Boynton. "By watching the salt content for an entire year, you'd be able at the end of the year to do a mathematical calculation."
Along with the installation of the monitoring station, the advisory committee will authorize a water-quality study in Haggetts Pond. This will identify areas where ground water with large amounts of salt is entering the pond and also calculate the overall volume, shape and amount of sediment at the bottom of the pond.
"One of the issues we don't have a handle on is how much of the salt gets in through the ground water," said Boynton. "Hopefully within the next two or three months the equipment will be installed in Fish Brook and the pond study will be done."
The study should better inform the committee on where to place ground water-monitoring wells around the pond. These wells can be used over long periods of time to measure whether there is more or less salt in the ground water.
"What's going into the watershed has to come out of the watershed, and it's coming out of Fish Brook," said Boynton. "One of the things we're trying to do is just stay on top of the situation. It takes awhile to get the data."
News
A dash of study: Group looks at salt in town's water supply
- News
-
-
Seniors eye less expensive, simple answers for Andover High prom
Andover High seniors Matt McIver, left, and Liam Centrella are dressing casually for their prom.
Three prom-going teen girls in their senior year at Andover High School are talking about their bargain shoes, not costly gowns, hair appointments and make-up.
Continued ...
With eyes toward college expenses, adopting a more laid back approach to the prom is becoming the norm for seniors - but not necessarily juniors - attending the junior and senior prom at the school. -
Pink slip warnings for 66 teachers
More than 10 percent of Andover teachers have been given pink slips in the past week, as the town prepares for the fiscal year beginning July 1.
Continued ...
A total of 66 pink slips, warning of possible future layoffs, went out to all of the school district's non-professional status teachers in preparation for an unknown number of layoffs at the end of the fiscal year. Non-professional status teachers are teachers with less than three years of full-time teaching experience in Andover. -
ClownTown coasts into Park this weekend
What could be better than a carnival, complete with rides, games and festival food, setting up shop at the Park on Bartlet Street for two days and nights?
Continued ...
Well, all of the money raised by it benefiting area children and schools, of course! - Board: Five-story housing project too tall
- Water storage feature part of 40B plan
- Town ambulance rate jumps to $1074.12
- Probation hearing for sex offender
- Town Talk
- Dive into Krit Classic June 3
- Andover's last smokestack is drifting into history
- Construction begins on disabled soldier's home
- AYS Gold Rush fundraiser this weekend
- Scouts offer open house Saturday at camp site
- Andover Stories Continues: Amos Blanchard story, part I - building a trophy house
- Teachers contract: State law outlines process
- Andover firm recognized as a 'Best Place to Work'
- Cell phone store plans a 'family fun' grand opening hosts face painting, fun day
- Thursday, May 10, 2012
- Outsourcing of cemetery work fought
- Watch out, superficial culture. These girls plan to kick your butt
- No income cap on senior tax work-off program
-
