Similar technology and tunnel boring machines to those used in creating the English-French Chunnel made our MWRA 18 mile underground tunnel possible.
While the Chunnel was created under the English Channel to avoid water, Framingham’s underground tunnel is to channel water to the Boston area.
Members of the MWRA working group monitored the progress of our tunnel, which took 7 years, and involved hundreds of homes, 1000’s of truck trips and millions of dollars.
One of the issues that was brought to light was the condition and future of the “Birch Wells” a cluster of wells adjacent to the New England Sand & Gravel property where the construction of the tunnel was staged. The area was fenced off and acknowledged owned by the Town of Framingham.
While at the time, the cost of treating the magnesium and other elements in the well water was deemed prohibitive, the idea of someday turning to the wells to supply Framingham’s drinking water was floated.
At the 2009 annual town meeting, a water treatment plant project was approved. As the cost of MWRA water rises, the rationale and numbers show that the pricetag for the plant will be redeemed in savings in the coming years.
The person in the Working Group who many felt had an irritating monomania about protecting and using the wells has since moved away.
While his message turned out to be spot on, it was lost in the delivery because he came across as noisy, bombastic, and disruptive. He was perceived as a troublemaker, at Board of Selectmen’s meetings as well as at Working Group meetings.
He was right, but so wrong in his approach.