![]() Woburn’s flood-prone areas are concentrated around Horn Pond and the upper Aberjona River. 19 Water is priced at $4.60 per hundred cubic feet (HCF) and sewer is priced relative to water use for commercial properties. 18 Commercial properties are also billed semiannually but on a per use charge as measured by water meters. 17 Residential water rates were $328 and sewer rates were $256.52 in 2018 ($3.36 per HCF for water and $2.61 per HCF for sewer based on an average annual consumption of 98.2 HCF per residential property). Residential properties are billed flat fees for water and sewer semiannually. 16 Residential and commercial properties are billed differently and at different rates for water and sewer services. Stormwater-related costs are funded through a tax levy that then makes up part of the city’s Department of Public Works’ budget. Rates are set annually once the City Council approves the Mayor’s budget proposal rate changes between FY2019 and FY2020 were driven in large part by debt service payments and an unexpected increase in consumption of MWRA water following an infrastructural failure within the Woburn water system. 13 For FY2020, water and sewer rates increased by 3.1%. 12Īs both water and sewer rates are dependent on estimated revenue needed to cover service costs, community assessments may be adjusted by the MWRA Advisory Board through their budget approval process if MWRA’s expected costs or debt service changes year to year. 10 Sewer assessments are calculated with several more considerations and are based on a proportional allocation the required revenue needed each year is considered either operating costs or capital costs and are calculated differently depending on which cost revenue is allocated to. The flat rate per million gallons for FY2020 is $4,021.42. The water assessments charged to member communities equal the water rate multiplied by metered water use from the previous year. 8 Member communities are responsible for setting their own rates for residents to meet MWRA community assessments and the cost of operating their local water and sewer services. MWRA estimates that roughly 45% of the costs charged to its member communities are passed down to individual ratepayers although that varies significantly by location. The bills, or community assessments, charged to each member community are calculated differently for water and sewer services. 7Īs mentioned previously, MWRA acts as a wholesaler. There are also roughly 350 properties that rely on septic tanks or cesspools (in the instance of cesspools, improper maintenance may result in wastewater sludge pooling at the surface rather than percolating properly underground). 6 Separately, illegal sump pumps remain a problem in Woburn, which have the potential to stress the sewer system’s capacity. Stormwater travels from catch basins directly into the Woburn’s waterways, including Horn Pond and the Aberjona River, with little to no treatment, making these waterways susceptible to household and other environmental pollutants. The sewer system was constructed in the 1890s and updated in the 1960s. Woburn’s Department of Public Works manages the city’s wastewater and stormwater systems, known as the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4). 5 While Woburn is only partially supplied with water from the MWRA, it relies on the water authority for its sewer services. During the winter months, the Horn Pond aquifer has enough capacity to meet Woburn’s water needs as demand increases during the summer months, Woburn purchases supplemental water from the MWRA. The City of Woburn also owns and operates its own water utility and sources water from an underground aquifer in the Horn Pond area, which supplies two-thirds of the city’s water. Carroll Water Treatment Plant, which treats Woburn’s water, is capable of treating 405 million gallons per day and the Deer Island Treatment Plant, which processes Woburn’s wastewater, is capable of treating 1.3 billion gallons per day. 3 MWRA assets include more than 250 facilities. MWRA’s water supply comes from reservoirs that are owned by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) and managed by the DCR’s Division of Water Supply Protection. MWRA is responsible for supplying full and partial water and sewer services to 3.1 million people and 5,500 large industrial users across 61 Boston-area communities. Established in 1985, MWRA is a public agency and is under the oversight of several federal and state regulatory bodies, yet its functions are largely independent from the state government. ![]() One of the major water management stakeholders in the Boston metro region is the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA), which supplies one-third of Woburn’s water. ![]()
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