100%

Atkins Reservoir Friday, January 27: 100% capacity

Atkins Reservoir, which went back online a couple weeks ago, is currently at full 200 million gallon capacity.

A far cry from early this fall when it was down by two-thirds and had to be shut down early. 

 Atkins Reservoir October 7th, 2016:  34% of capacity

Amherst managed to survive an extended period using only the wells and the return of somewhat normal New England weather has now replenished our surface water supplies in Pelham and Atkins which is located in Shutesbury.

The town lifted the water ban that went into effect on August 19th back on December 19th and the consumption levels since then have remained below 3 million gallons per day.

Amherst is permitted by the DEP to draw 4.44 million gallons per day so in our current system there's still plenty of capacity left for new growth as long as Mother Nature does not throw a hot hissy fit.




NIMBYs have embraced the recent water woes as another weapon in their anti-development war using it to attack the proposed Beacon Communities 130 unit development at the Mill District in North Amherst.

Not the first time the usual knee jerk anti-development arguments  have been all wet.

If At 1st You Don't Succeed

 DPW Fire Station Advisory Committee

The DPW Fire Station Advisory Committee met yesterday for a lick-your-wounds strategy session after one of two proposals failed on the floor of Fall Town Meeting.

Specifically the $350,000 requested for a more advanced schematic design phase study of a new DPW building, which seemed like a lot of money compared to the $75,000 Town Meeting approved for an initial Fire Station study.

If the Fire Station can now catch up to the DPW by spring then the Committee will recommend two separate warrant articles for the Annual Town Meeting of around $350,000 each for the required schematic design phase, although most members agreed it would be helpful if each project had identified a building site by then.

The plan still seems to be for the Fire Station to locate where the DPW is now but town officials have now given up on Fort River School as a DPW relocation site.

Chair Lynn Griesemer was adamant the very preliminary proposed "ideal" DPW building is simply too expensive especially given it's three times that of the new Fire Station ($37 million vs $12 million).

 Weston & Sampson preliminary cost estimates new DPW

Over the next few months the committee will work with consultants Weston & Sampson to try to bring down the cost which normally does happen once a site is selected.

Another suggestion is for the committee to propose a maximum cap, say $25 million, and ask the consultants what kind of a DPW building can they come up with for that amount.

 Anything of course would be an improvement over what they have today.

DPW is located in 100 year old former Trolley repair barn in a really nice neighborhood

Well I love That Dirty Water

Town is using Mill River Pool water for trees, shrubs and sewer flushing

Amherst Road, Pelham  pond usually a lot fuller

Whatever you are doing to conserve water, keep doing it.  In fact, think about stepping it up over the next few weeks as the water situation continues to tread water, but not really improve.

   Amherst Water Drought Update by Larry Kelley on Scribd

 Atkins Reservoir 10/14 off line and only 37.5% full

At the four boards economic summit meeting on Thursday, Town Manager Paul Bockelman pointed out the water crisis had a silver lining in that it has brought the town and University of Massachusetts closer together as a team (Amherst & Hampshire Colleges as well).

 Hills Reservoir 10/14 off line

And Assistant Town Manager Dave Ziomek confirmed that although the Select Board approved fines for water ban violators no such tickets have been issued to date because "cooperation has been so good."

 Hawley Reservoir 10/14 currently off line

I'll drink to that.

Don't Stop

Current drought monitor map

Drought monitor last month

While conservation measures enacted since late August have been helpful, Mother Nature's teasing response to pleas for drenching rain has been a tad less so.

Take today for instance:  Just enough to screw up your outdoor barbecue but not nearly enough to float a boat on the growing sandbar at closed Atkins Reservoir. 

On September 21, the day Atkins shut down, after we had been pumping close to one million gallons of water per day for the previous few weeks, our main reservoir stood at 9' 7" down with 60 million gallons of water remaining from 200 million gallons when full.

 Atkins Reservoir October 7th still at only 34% of capacity

On Friday, October 7, with no pumping at all for 17 days, our main reservoir stood at 8' 10" down with 76 million gallons remaining from full capacity of 200 million gallons.

 Atkins Reservoir sandbar 8/21

Atkins sandbar 10/7.  Note hot tub depression once fully underwater

In other words not all that much recharge has taken place.  And if the reservoir had not gone off line when it did it would now be at a historic low level.

Water consumption over the past few weeks has been around 3 million gallons per day but not all that much less than a year ago at this same time when no water ban was in effect.

Click to enlarge/read

Note Columbus Day weekend drop off in consumption with UMass kids gone

UMass is a ghost town over Indigenous Peoples Day weekend

The drought task force is expected to advise municipalities to maintain their water bans until at least Halloween and if a lot more rain has not fallen by then probably into the winter.

The Amherst Select Board enacted fines for water ban violations as an emergency edict until the ban is lifted but stopped short of making it a regular town bylaw since the Department of Environmental Protection would then have the authority to force the town to implement it at any time in the future.




Currently our wells are holding up just fine, although there's no way to measure the supply they draw from.

So as long as a Creepy Clown does not sabotage Wells 3 or 4 ...

Conservation: Don't Stop!

Atkins Reservoir today. 75 of 200 million gallons remain (37.5%)

Atkins Treatment Plant goes off line September 21st meaning we will  have zero reservoirs in use

With Atkins Reservoir now down 8' 11" and fast approaching the all time low of minus 10' it's time to double down on the water ban.  Our other two reservoirs in Pelham are completely off-line and will stay that way for at least another six weeks.

 Pelham Reservoir currently off line

Hills Reservoir currently off line

Click to enlarge photos or graphs

 That red splotch keeps growing and heading our way

Even if consumption peaks at  4.2 mgd (like last year) the wells  alone can handle it (unless Wells 3 or 4 go down)

Atkins sandbar 8/21/16

Atkins sandbar 9/12/16

Let's Get Serious

Atkins Reservoir yesterday

Pelham Reservoir (Not in use at the moment)

With our immediate area in a "severe drought" and with over one-third of all communities in the state already implimenting "mandatory" water bans it's time Amherst became a tad more serious and upgraded the two-day old voluntary ban to a mandatory one (exempting farmers of course).

 Fort River barely flowing

Fort River near Groff Park

The somewhat Rube Goldberg water system we have is already in high-capacity mode three weeks before the college aged youth come flocking back to our town, which could be the bale of hay that breaks the camel's back.

UMass is immune from town edicts (you can tell which fields are irrigated)

Groff Park Wading Pool should remain exempt (Cherry Hill Golf Course, on the other hand)

No water over Puffer's Pond dam this morning

1980 UMass Water Shortage Shut Down

Fire Station/DPW Plan B

Fort River Elementary School

The current working plan involving three of the four upcoming major building projects is a bit like playing dominoes (or musical chairs):  The new DPW to be located at the town owned Fort River School, freeing up their former location for the new South Fire Station.

 Current DPW is located in 100 year old former Trolley building

Only problem is the Fort River School is still a (mostly) functional elementary school.

Should the $35 million or so Debt Exclusion Override for the new $65+ million Mega School pass Town Meeting this Fall and the voters at the November election the grand plan will be on its way.

Although it will take a few years before the new school is completed in two phases and construction can commence with the new DPW and then the new Fire Station.

But if those best laid plans fail to pass the first major hurdle of an Override vote this Fall both the DPW and Fire Station will have to find new site locations.  The DPW already did a feasibility study that concluded the Fort River School site was #1 but they also identified at least two other adequate sites:

 1) Ball Lane, North Amherst (former Matuszko Trucking)

2) Town land between Belchertown Road and Gull pond

Although the South Fire Station project is only now preparing to undertake a formal feasibility study, at least two sites have been mentioned as a possible location that falls within state guidelines for distance away from town center (so decrepit Central Station could be closed):

1) Slobody property behind South Town Commons, Pomeroy Village South Amherst

2) Town owned South Amherst Alternative High School, South East Street

Thus this coming Town Meeting will be critical in setting the stage for all four building projects which, all told, will cost over $100 million in town funding and should last a minimum of fifty years.

And Town Meeting will be under a microscope as the Charter Commission could propose a new Mayor/Council government, abandoning the 258 year old institution.

Unsung Heroes Week

Who ya gonna call?

DPW at Kendrick Park assisting with the undergrounding of electrical wiring 

When APD or AFD needs to get somewhere to assist a citizen in the middle of a raging snowstorm it's the DPW plow driver who provides an invaluable assist. Or sands the roads immediately after a structure fire where the water runoff has turned a street into glare ice.

When trees came crashing down in the midst of a late October snowstorm taking out power and blocking roads and driveways, the DPW tree division provided a priceless assist.

And if God forbid a man made or natural disaster should befall the heart of our downtown, in addition to police and fire personnel who speed towards the disaster you would also see those distinctive yellow trucks heading into the fray.

Which is why the Department of Homeland Security now designates DPW Departments as "First Responders", something a minority of us in the know folks have always considered them to be.

Yet I never knew there was a "National Public Works Week," but I'm digging it!

John Oliver salute to Infrastructure (scary as it is funny)

There They Go Again

North end of downtown, finally, getting infrastructure improvements

As usual the Town Meeting warrant article that made the most common sense for quick passage -- deemed a "no brainer" by one member --  created the longest discussion of the night, although it did easily attain more than a two thirds vote, 119 to 32. 

As "keepers of the public way" the Amherst Select Board has already unanimously approved a roundabout for the important East Pleasant/Triangle Street intersection, a main gateway to UMass.

 Bank of America ATM (red roof)

Land required in yellow

In order to make it safer for pedestrians via a sidewalk the town needs a sliver of land from Bank of America, who is willing to donate it in exchange for some help fixing a water pipe connection to their brightly colored ATM.

But naturally, fuddy-duddies in Town Meeting who prefer the old fashioned signalized intersection continue to engage in guerrilla warfare, trying to stop progress.

Fortunately a couple years from now they will figure it out -- after easily negotiating the roundabout on their horse and buggy.

A Tree Grows In South Amherst

20.5" White Oak in front of 666 South East Street  (yellow caution tape around it)

The Planning Board voted 4-3 in favor of removing a 20.5" healthy white oak at the crest of a hill on scenic South East Street last night.  

But since Tree Warden Alan Snow disagreed with them, as did a single resident of the town who did so in writing, the controversy now goes to the Amherst Select Board, keepers of the public way.

 Alan Snow, Tree Warden; Christine Brestrup, Senior Planner

At their most recent meeting Monday night, at the urging of Mr. Snow, the Select Board officially declared April "Arbor Month."

Scenic Roads Public Hearing explanation

Unlike two and a half years ago this time the town is the petitioner to remove the tree, more specifically the DPW.  And yes Alan Snow is the DPW Director of Trees and Grounds, but his separate role as Tree Warden is a higher calling.

 Planning Board (still shy two members)

Assistant Town Manager Dave Ziomek told the Planning Board the removal of the tree would increase sight lines and improve safety ... a relatively "easy fix." 

But some members of the Planning Board thought that could contribute to an increase in speeding, a factor everyone seemed to agree was a problem on that road. 

In response to residents concerns over the past few years the town has installed new signs, increased police traffic enforcement, and trimmed trees along the roadway. 

 Sign at bottom of hill

Mr. Snow, however, reaffirmed the line he had drawn: "Pruning is one thing, but removal has to be taken seriously."

And in Amherst, it certainly is.