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Special Report: Welcome to New England
Plant in Massachusetts Signals Desalination’s Arrival in Region -
What Exactly Are We Getting Into? by Stephen Hochbrunn, NEIWPCC
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War and Peace
The Aquaria plant in Dighton will also be getting its energy the old-fashioned way, but that issue wasn’t a significant factor in the long battle over the facility. About everything else was. Proponents and opponents squared off repeatedly, and not just about the potential for environmental impacts. A former mayor of Brockton threatened to file a lawsuit claiming taxpayers’ money was being spent illegally. The threat came after then-Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney signed a petition from Brockton’s City Council allowing the city to commit to a 20-year contract with Aquaria that does not require the Council to appropriate the money every year, as state law typically requires for any purchase of services. The contract assures Aquaria of a steady, thirsty customer. Brockton is initially committed to buying 1.9 MGD, but that will rise to more than 4 MGD by the tenth year of the contract.
While the lawsuit was never filed, the threat to the plant from environmentalists was real. After the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection issued Water Management Act permits to both Aquaria (for withdrawing the water) and Brockton (for buying it) in June 2005, environmental groups filed joint appeals against both permits. With the possibility of the appeals process further stalling the long-delayed project, Aquaria began talking to the groups, looking for ways to settle their differences. In September, the groups withdrew their appeal of the Aquaria permit. Three months later, they pulled their appeal of the Brockton permit. Why, after fighting so hard for so long against the plant, did the groups back off?
“The plant was in review for a very long time,” said Pine duBois of the Jones River Watershed Association, which filed the appeals along with Save the Bay (Narragansett Bay) and the Taunton River Watershed Alliance. “We were successful I believe in getting a lot of changes implemented into the design that would at least minimize the impact on the environment. We really required an awful lot of the components in the permits that ensure, to the degree possible, that there will not be a change that is unacceptable in terms of the salinity of the estuary and in the numbers of fish.”
That duBois would trumpet her movement’s role in applying the pressure that led to a more environmentally friendly project is fair and expected—but state agencies get credit too. The Division of Marine Fisheries, for example, worked with Aquaria for two years on revisions to its proposal before finally granting approval. And wherever the pressure came from, it worked. Aquaria eased concerns about impingement and entrainment by agreeing to reduce the velocity of the plant’s intake. It plans to install either a Gunderboom filter barrier or a filter system made by Filtrex of Attleboro, Mass., at the intake; either system will help prevent fish eggs, larvae, and other small aquatic organisms from being sucked into the plant. As for the endangered Long’s Bittercress, the company conducted a survey of the plant’s presence in the area, and determined that some will have to be relocated. Once that’s done, and desalination is underway, Aquaria will closely monitor the impact of its operations on the Long’s Bittercress population. In fact, the extensive monitoring required of Aquaria in the multiple permits it required and received succeeded in assuaging many fears about the facility. It will watch itself very closely—and its findings will be watched closely by others.
Success in achieving a gentler desalination plant wasn’t all that motivated the environmentalists’ decision to call off the battle.
“We also felt there was an opportunity here to correct a significant environmental damage that was already occurring,” duBois said. “We saw the chance to reduce the amount of water that Brockton takes from Silver Lake.” If that reduction happens, duBois may achieve something she’s long been fighting for—an end to the periodic severing of the connection between Silver Lake and her beloved Jones River. Silver Lake is the river’s headwaters, and duBois and other activists have for years blamed Brockton’s withdrawals for drawing down the lake to the extent that flow to the Jones dries up during parts of the year.
The idea that desalination can relieve pressure on overly stressed existing water sources isn’t new. Proponents have been making that argument for decades. The tough part is ensuring the new supply of water actually reduces demands on the old, and doesn’t simply increase the overall supply. Brockton’s Brian Creedon said there’s nothing in the city’s WMA permit stipulating that, once the desalination plant goes online, Brockton must reduce withdrawals from Silver Lake to help reestablish a constant connection between the lake and the Jones River. But he expects it will happen.
“Do I expect a greater connectivity to the Jones River? Absolutely,” Creedon said.
DuBois appeared to agree, saying Brockton’s new water management plan sets out a process that should help the Jones. “If it doesn’t, we have the right to appeal the permit,” she said.
The environmental groups got one other thing—a little money for the cause. In the agreement with Aquaria in which the environmentalists agreed to drop their appeal is the clause that a new group, the Taunton River Stewardship Organization, will be created to protect and enhance the natural resources of the Taunton and its watershed. Funding for the group will come from Aquaria, which will contribute two cents for every 1,000 gallons of desalinated water it sells from the Dighton plant. Even at Brockton’s initial commitment to buy 1.9 MGD, that’s a contribution of nearly $14,000 a year. Were the plant to expand eventually to its full capacity of 10 MGD, the annual contribution would rise to $73,000. Under the agreement, Aquaria must also provide, every year, as many as 10 free laboratory analyses of water samples submitted by the stewardship organization.
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