WESTFIELD—In an effort to help further educate and advocate for residents about perceived issues with the water in the city, the community group Westfield Residents Advocating For Themselves (WRAFT) is holding a public forum this weekend.
WRAFT will be meeting this Sunday, Jan. 7, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., at Santorini’s Pizzeria Restaurant on Southampton Road in Westfield. The meeting will be held in an attempt to answer questions and address concerns that WRAFT founder Kristen Mello said have been brought forward online recently.
“There’s been an enormous amount of online chatter the last few weeks,” Mello said.
“A lot of fury but not a lot of ‘what we are going to be doing about it’,” she added.
Some of these concerns, Mello said, have included questions about water quality, from its taste to its appearances, in addition to the more lingering questions of poly-fluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS), also known as perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), in the city’s water.
“People look at their water and if the water is cloudy or brown or smells a certain way, there are a lot of questions about that,” Mello said. “Then questions about PFAS issues, but it’s not the same thing.”
“Now that more people are asking, more people are aware of it, we want to make sure people are given consistent and correct information,” she said.
Mello said that the forum, which will allow for people to ask questions and hopefully be provided answers, will be used as an “educational and advocacy resource” for residents.
“What we want is people to be informed and proactive. We want to make sure everyone has correct information to do something about it when they’re having the problem,” she said.
Mello said that attendees will be provided with a number of handouts related to water, and the handouts come from different resources. These may explain what risks certain contaminants may put onto people, as well as what certain water issues may mean.
Mello added that if there are issues with your water, that you should contact the city’s water department so that it can be addressed.
“If the water department is not aware of where the problems are then they cannot address them,” she said.
Mello also said that there were no invitations provided directly to city officials, though they are welcome to come, as is anyone from the public.
