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Desalinization plan nears reality in talks with city
By Robert Preer, Globe Correspondent(2000년 2월6일)
Seven years after a small local consulting company first floated the unlikely idea, a desalinization plant that could serve much of southeastern Massachusetts is on the verge of becoming a reality.

Brockton city officials say they are close to signing a contract to buy 11/2 million gallons of water a day from the proposed plant, which would be located on the wooded banks of the Taunton River in Dighton.

Once the deal with Brockton is sealed, the consulting company, Bluestone Energy Services Inc. of Braintree and its partner, the Houston-based water company AquaSource Inc., plan to move quickly toward construction of the $40 million facility, which would open in 2002.

The plant's developers hope to sign up other cities and towns as wholesale customers and have had preliminary discussions with officials in more than a dozen municipalities, including Weymouth, Norton, Sharon, Stoughton, Avon, Whitman, Abington, Rockland, Holbrook, Easton, and Hanson. All of these communities have struggled with water shortages in recent years.

''We see Brockton as the flagship of a large system,'' said Peter M. Fairbanks, Bluestone's president. The one regulatory hurdle remaining is approval of a state environmental impact report. A draft environmental impact report has already been certified, and local officials do not believe the final state report is a big obstacle. ''I believe the plant could be ready before 2002,'' said Brockton water systems manager Brian Creedon.

Drawing from the brackish waters of the Taunton River, the plant initially would produce 31/2 million gallons of water daily but in the future could process 10 million gallons a day or more, according to the project's proponents.

The facility, which has already received preliminary approvals from the state Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, would be located 14 miles upstream from the Braga Bridge in Fall River, where the Taunton River empties into Mount Hope Bay. Saltwater from the ocean washes into the river there, flowing in and out with the tides all the way to the city of Taunton.

Water treated by the plant would be sent northward on a new water main to be installed along an abandoned rail bed 14 miles through Raynham, Easton, and Stoughton. The water would be distributed locally through municipal systems.

Desalinization is a technology found mainly on islands and in deserts. Only a handful of large desalinization plants operate in the United States and none in the Northeast. A plant is being built in Cape May, N.J., where saltwater intrusion has contaminated local wells.

Desalinization is hardly a new concept. Greek sailors distilled seawater for drinking as early as the 4th century B.C. Many of the older desalinization plants use the same process - heating salt water and capturing the vapor, which is condensed to form fresh water.

A more modern technique - and the one that would be used at the Dighton plant - is reverse osmosis, in which saltwater is forced through a membrane. Salt and other impurities are left on one side, while freshwater flows to the other.

The main disadvantage of desalinization is cost. Considerable energy is required, especially when compared with pumping water from a well or reservoir. ''Just about any place on the ocean is a candidate for desalinization,'' said Bill Lauer, program manager for the Denver-based American Water Works Association. ''It really comes down to whether there are alternative supplies available.''

Southeastern Massachusetts, which is the state's fastest growing region, has been struggling to find sufficient water, and many municipal wells are either exhausted or polluted. Bans on outside watering are routine in many communities.

The desalinization plant is the brainchild of Bluestone Energy Services, a five-person environmental engineering company, formerly located in Marshfield. In 1993, a newly hired engineer, Jeffrey H. Hanson, now a vice president, suggested building a desalinization plant to meet growing water needs. The area near the mouth of the Taunton River would be an ideal spot, Hanson argued. Billions of gallons of water flow in and out of it every day - providing a virtually limitless supply, as well as abundant water to dilute the plant's waste - a highly salty brine.

Hanson and other Bluestone officials pitched the idea to a special state environmental committee, which was studying the water needs of Southeastern Massachusetts. In its final report, issued in late 1993, the panel listed desalinization as one of three options for the region. The others were connecting to the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority and diverting the Taunton River upstream.

Bluestone, though, had no resources to make the plan happen. The company was able to win a $1 million grant from Eastern Utilities, the Brockton area electric company, which wanted to find a solution to the region's water shortages. Bluestone used the grant to prepare a preliminary environmental impact report. Still, the firm had no way of building the plant.

Then, last year, AquaSource appeared on the scene. The company was founded in 1997 by Duquesne Light, a Pittsburgh-based electric company. Under electricity deregulation, Duquesne Light had been forced to sell its Pennsylvania power plants. It used the money to form AquaSource and get into the water business.

AquaSource is now the largest private water company in Texas and owns systems across the country. Looking to expand into Massachusetts, the company agreed to build and operate the desalinization plant Bluestone had proposed.

AquaSource is still cash rich from the sale of the power plants and could build the plant without selling bonds, according to Richard Lima, vice president of business development for AquaSource. Meanwhile, the other potential solutions fell out of favor. Environmentalists adamantly opposed diversion of the Taunton River. And local officials
were wary of the MWRA, an independent authority many localities accuse of taking a heavy-handed approach with ratepayers and municipal governments.

''We basically have outlived the other proposals,''
Fairbanks said. Plans now call for the desalinization plant to supplement - not replace - local water supplies.
Brockton's main water source would continue to be Silver Lake, while other communities would still use local wells and reservoirs.

Water from the desalinization plant would represent less than 15 percent of the city's total water use.
''The key is that it is supplemental,'' said Fairbanks. ''If you bought all of your water from this, it would be
too expensive.'' Water bills for the average Brockton household likely would increase $3 to $4 a month when the new plant goes on line, according to AquaSource and Bluestone officials.

The main regulatory obstacle now is approval of a final state environmental impact report. Company officials expect to file the report later this month. Approvals from local conservation commissions also will be needed. The state Executive Office of Environmental Affairs reviewed and approved the initial plans. The agency's main concerns have been about the new water main that would bring the water north from the plant.

The main pipeline would run along the same rail bed where the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority wants to build a commuter railroad to Fall River and New Bedford. The towns of Easton and Raynham have sued the MBTA to block the rail line, arguing it would threaten sensitive wetlands, endangered plants and animals, and local wells.

Fairbanks said the water line could be built regardless of the railroad's fate. He said he does not see environmental obstacles to the pipeline. ''We're considerably different from a railroad. You put in a pipe in the ground, and it's done,'' Fairbanks said.

Only formal approvals of the mayor and City Council are needed for the deal with Brockton to be complete. ''It has gone beyond negotiating,'' said Mayor John T. Yunits Jr. ''We are working on the final details.'' Water woes have plagued Brockton for nearly two decades. Because of short water supplies, the state imposed a building ban that stifled development in the city in the 1980s. For years, residents have not been able to water their lawns or wash their cars.

Brian Creedon, Brockton's water systems manager, said an attraction of the desalinization plant is that it could be operating faster than developing new wells or connecting to the MWRA. ''Time is important to us,'' he said.

AquaSource is committed to building the plant once the Brockton deal is complete but needs to sell an additional 2 million gallons a day to break even on the project, according to company officials. They are confident other communities will want to buy water.

''It's a big decision we have made, and we are comfortable with it,'' said Richard Lima, vice president of business development for AquaSource. Other communities clearly are interested, and the interest has grown since Brockton signaled it would buy water from the plant.

''It obviously gives the project a lot more credibility,'' said Weymouth Mayor David Madden. ''I'm excited about the possibility. This gives us another avenue to explore.'' Michael Milanoski, director of operations and economic development for the South Shore Tri-Town Development Corp., said Brockton's commitment ''certainly makes the deal more real.''

The Tri-Town corporation needs to find water to redevelop the former South Weymouth Naval Air Station, which spans Weymouth, Rockland, and Abington. Norton has run out of potential well sites and could purchase up to 1 million gallons per day, according to Duane Knapp, the town's water and sewer superintendent. ''The number one solution for us now is desalinization,'' he said.

Stoughton is considering the desalinization plant as well as a possible MWRA connection, according to town engineer James E. Miller. ''We haven't come to any conclusions yet,'' he said.