Water bubbling up through the ground near Windsor Garden Apartments.

This year’s Hotspot Monitoring season started off like a geyser. While out investigating high bacteria levels in a tributary of Hawes Brook in Norwood, NepRWA staff discovered water bubbling up from the ground, reminiscent of a hot spring in Yellowstone.

Unsure of the origin of the water, we collected a sample and discovered that it contained detectable levels of Chlorine, tipping us off that it was drinking water. We immediately notified the town DPW that there was a leak near the Windsor Gardens Apartments, and within days the Norwood water division sent us pictures of them repairing the cracked pipe.

Norwood gets its water from the Quabbin Reservoir via the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority (MWRA). This means that Norwood has to pay more for their drinking water than non-MWRA towns that have municipal wells. By responding quickly to the report and repairing the leak, they saved Norwood residents a lot of money in the long term.

Norwood DPW staff repairing broken water pipe.

Click Here to learn more about the Hotspot program and to explore our interactive Hotspot map.

May 2017 — Chris Hirsch, Environmental Scientist hirsch@neponset.org