Since I wasn’t quite ready to say goodbye to summer, it is hard to believe that October is half over and autumn is in full swing. Autumn’s presence is evident in multicolored trees and the crunch of acorns underfoot. Halloween is a little more than two weeks away. Scary! I hope you all receive your full share of treats and avoid those tricky tricksters entirely.
Northside residents are still dealing with the contamination of three of their four wells. There has been much written in the Westfield Evening News (WEN) about these wells that draw water from the Barnes aquifer, the drinking water supply for residents north of the river. WEN reporter Dan Desrochers has written informative and comprehensive articles about this very concerning issue. The articles covering different aspects of the problem were worth reading and I for one appreciated his follow-up articles. I also appreciate the information provided by the DPW, Health Department and city officials.
At the last City Council meeting I co-sponsored two motions related to the protection of the Barnes Aquifer located on the Northside. The first motion co-sponsored with Councilors Onyski and O’Connell is intended to review the Water Resources Protection District zoning ordinance. The Water Resource Protection District was established as an overlaying and superimposed zone on other existing zoning districts.
The zoning ordinance can be found at www.cityofwestfield.org/documentcenter/view/892.
As stated in Article III Section 3-170.1, “The intent of this Water Resource Protection District are: to protect, preserve and maintain the public water supply and the lands that contribute to it; to conserve the natural water resources within the city; and to prevent the pollution of the public water supply of the City and surrounding areas.” Areas include the Barnes, Southampton, Great Brook and Northwest Road aquifers.
Prohibited uses, permitted uses, special permit uses and other language in the ordinance will be reviewed with input from the Barnes Aquifer Protection Advisory Committee (BAPAC) to ensure that we are doing our best to protect this precious water resource. The recent well contamination on the Northside suggests it would make good sense to re-evaluate the ordinance to ensure its language does fully protect the Aquifers. The review and discussion will be initiated by the Natural Resources sub-committee of the City Council. When the review starts, postings of the agenda and meeting dates could be found at the City website under City Council Committees.
The second motion which I co-sponsored with Councilor Allie is intended to review other options that could be implemented to provide additional safeguards and programs for protecting the Aquifer, in particular the Barnes Aquifer. Education of the public and business owners located over or near the aquifer and bringing awareness of the importance of protecting the aquifer are but two of the many actions that could be implemented. This initiative will be taken up by the Public Health and Safety sub-committee. We need everyone to become a “defender” of our water resources. As a member of each committee, I would appreciate hearing your thoughts.
One critical area that should be reviewed is compliance to the conditions that accompany permits or special permits granted to developers for work in the Water Resource Protection District. We need to do a better job of monitoring and enforcing the conditions that are written into permits meant to protect the aquifer, ensuring they are being followed. Informed residents, business owners, educators, airport managers and city officials working together, can make it happen. How do we fix this? How do we protect the people who depend on these rules being followed and prevent the groundwater from being contaminated? There is no excuse for not following the rules/conditions applied to special permits within the water resource protection district. Everyone has to take seriously their share of the responsibility to protect this precious resource. I encourage everyone to get informed and involved.
I will be holding Ward 1 office hours on Monday, October 17 in the Barnes Regional Airport Conference Room located at 100 Airport Road from 11:00 am to 12:30pm.
A Ward 1 public forum has been scheduled for Wednesday, October 26 at the Hampden Ponds Association hall located at 39 Old Stage Rd on the corner of North Road from 6:30 to 8:00pm. The water contamination issue will be on the agenda. City department representatives and others will be there to answer questions.
Please continue to reach out to me with your questions or concerns: [email protected] or 413-568-8562
Sincerely,
Mary Ann Babinski, Ward 1 City Councilor
