Letter to the editor by Andrew Berens, Housatonic, published in the Berkshire Eagle on Nov. 15, 2023. ![]() Housatonic Water Works (HWW) has proposed a multimillion-dollar fix at the village’s expense for one aspect of the village’s water woes: turbid colored water. A HWW-commissioned study by Cornwell Engineering Group implicates elevated manganese levels as the genesis of this problem, and the company has a rate increase petition to pass these costs onto the citizens. ("Housatonic residents say they should not have to pay to fix the water. They asked regulators to scour company finances," Eagle, Sept. 27.) While the village is desperate for improvements in the water quality, I believe there are a number of discrepancies in the methodologies and conclusions of this report linking manganese levels and water color problems that warrant, at the very least, an objective, independently commissioned review by a third party. Understanding the true cause of the water woes might require a repeat study, especially given some of the concerns about data collection integrity and consistency, before implementing the proposed solutions to lower manganese levels at the village’s expense.
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