From the Eagle Tribune;
Water company wells OK'd in Atkinson
By Eric Parry
eparry@eagletribune.com
ATKINSON — The state approved two sites for the Hampstead Area Water Co. wells after more than a year of testing, public hearings and analysis.
Each site has two wells and will be allowed to draw a combined maximum of 300,000 gallons of water per day.
One site is about 400 feet west of Fieldstone Lane while the other is about 1,000 feet east of the Old Village Road pump house.
Stephen Roy, a state hydrogeologist, said one of the four wells is a backup source and would be only used if another failed.
The state has been considering the water company's request for more wells since it submitted an initial application in 2007.
That application was denied but the company hired a new consultant and submitted an application with new data in 2008, Roy said.
The company had requested approval for 348,800 gallons per day.
Ever since the water company's initial request, Atkinson residents have been concerned their wells would run dry.
But Roy said testing at the well sites determined that would not be the case.
"We do not expect indelible impact to anyone's well," he said.
Roy said each comment at the hearings and written comments submitted by residents had to be addressed before approving the request.
Selectman Bill Bennett, who has been closely monitoring the matter since before he was elected in March, said he's happy with the approval.
"They've mandated some protections and it's more than we probably would have gotten if we didn't make any noise," Bennett said.
As part of the approval, the water company will have to monitor how much is drawn from each well and report that information to the state.
Each year, the state would review the data and determine if the permit needs to be modified, Roy said.
A water conservation plan for the company was also mandated by the state Department of Environmental Services.
Company President Harold Morse said the wells would improve water service in Atkinson and allow for more customers to hook up to the system if they wanted.
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The Norman Rockwellian picture of Atkinson
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25 comments:
Moderator:
Ditto!
I was visiting a friend and she had a gallon of HAWC water on the counter. She told me to smell it. To my shock it smelled very strong of chlorine. She said she uses it for the plants and usually lets a gallon sit for 3 days before watering the plants.
I would not want HAWC chlorine water on my hair or in my mouth.
Boycott East Coast Lumber.
Boycott the Country Club and golf courses.
Don't tell your friends about any Lewis built properties.
BOYCOTT ANYTHING TO DO WITH THESE SELFISH THIEVES!!! They understand nothing except when it hits them on the pocketbook...
Webmaster says-
You may view the DES approval documentation at www.just-goaway.com
Please pay attention to the warnings.
You don't understand. They put all that bleach in their water to save you money doing your laundry. You don't have to buy bleach. Just hand wash with bottled water for non bleach items.
Now I know why my hair is turning blond.
Maybe they use the bleach to get rid of the radon. Remember that low blow to HAWC customers by Peter back about 8 years?
Can't expect me to treat something that the government has not set limits on. It would be a poor business decision!!
Good business decision, who cares about our health, right?
hello?...hello?...
Brought to you by the same group that dumps human septage onto their field. Who cares about health reasons! It is what lines the pocket book that makes the difference.
Maybe the bleach is to kill the pathogens that leached into the aquifer after the septage dumping?
During the hearings HAWC tried to bamboozle the PUC by saying their unaccounted water loss was less that 13%. It wasn't until the state consumer advocacy group asked enough pointed questions that it came out the whole system may be 13% but Atkinson's unaccounted loss was over 33%.
If water can leak, it can also provide entry point for contaminates.
Another thing that you will learn if you read the original reports is that HAWC treats uranium by diluting it. It's not gone my friends. It is in their system, only at lower concentrations.
So, my fellow HAWC users, drink up.
Oh, was that a Poland Springs truck I saw at the Lewis-Morris's?
The water loss blame is also another way of hiding selling water to outside distributers such as "Lawrence Water" which is water for pools.
I love the way some people make up stories just so they can bitch. Frist , the name of the company that supplies pool water is Lawrence Tank. I know for a fact they DON'T buy any water in Atkinson. All of the water they truck is from MA.{they have running water in pipes down there}I guess this is the frist time a water company is going draw water from wells. Are you people stupid or just jealous of other people sucess
To the previous poster:
Since you're defending HAWC, could you please explain what happened when, after Harold Morse promised no water would be sent out of Atkinson into Hampstead, the day after they lost the "water ordinance" vote in Atkinson it was announced that they were connecting MY Atkinson water into Hampstead? Was that a lie or not?
Just a question? I'm aware of the pipeline going from Atkinson to Hampstead. I believe that Hampstead is already served by HAWC. Is it possible that Hampstead water can also come into Atkinson - that this can be a circular route?
I meant hawc water not HAMPSTEAD water.
I'll bring a quart if morse will drink it at the podium.
ARTICLE SUBMISSION PLEASE:
A Budgetary Education
As we approach town meeting I would like to educate my fellow townspeople on the budgetary process, and where their tax dollars go.
First, RSA Chapter 32, is the State Law controlling the budget. Budget committees are SOLELY responsible for preparing the budget. Governing bodies(selectmen and school boards) ONLY have authority over the budget AFTER it is passed by the voters and enters the spending phase.
RSA 32:5 states that it is the duty of all governing bodies and dept. heads to provide the budget committee with any and all information the committee feels it needs to prepare the budget.
It is the job of the budget committee to research, and verify all numbers furnished by the dept heads, and decide if those amounts are appropriate. For example; The Town of Salem, 4 years ago, decided to hire their 61st police officer. The budget committee decided that he either wasn't needed or couldn't be afforded, and refused to fund the position. The budget committee does not attempt to "run" a dept. they merely decide if they are going to fund the dept head's wishlist.
There is a marked difference between how the town budget committee works, and how the school board budget committee works. The town budcom follows State law. The SB budcom does not.
The school board allows the superintendent to prepare their budget drafts and they pass them. SB budcom members have even been heard to say, in the past, that it was their job to "sell" the school boards budget to the people! It is not! It is their job to tell the school board how much they get to spend. Further the RSA's also provide a formula for figuring out the default budget. The Superintendent does not follow that formula either. He includes cost items that he and the SB feels are important, but are not enumerated in RSA 40:13.
In short we as taxpayers should pay ultimate attention to these two budget committees as they are solely responsible for how much our tax burden is.
It appears that our school budget(which makes up about 80% of our tax burden) will be up about 3% this year. I find this amazing as enrollment is down, infrastructure costs are down, as well as fuel costs, and the teachers raises will be in a contract warrant article this year, so why the increase? How about this; The school district budget this year will be about $64,000,000. There are 4400 kids in the district. This means you are paying $14,545.46/ kid! Yes I know that the "official" figure is $9,600.00 or so, and that follows the state formula, but what they don't tell you is that formula omits some costs that you are paying for. The $9,600 is supposed to represent the educational costs. If that is so, how do YOU feel about paying a 51% premium for the quality of education your children receive.
I prefer to be blunt, transparent, and honest rather than obfuscating the true figures.
Let the discussion commence.
December 29, 2009 7:55 AM
The problem is, no one outside of HAWC knows which direction the water travels. HAWC refuses to meter the pipeline water and has no provisions for doing so.
We only have HAWC's word that Atkinson water will not be shipped north, and we've all see how good Harold's word is. I seem to recall a couple of public meetings Harold promised to attend to answer questions, only to cancel at the very last moment.
HAWC's actions over time has shown them not to be an honorable enterprise. The concept of "truth" and doing the right thing is not in their corporate culture.
HAWC has received a lot of criticism over the last two years. Every word of it is deserved.
12/29/09 11:44 AM
Thank you for your reponse to my question. At least you did not refer to me as an idiot before answering. I truly did not know. I was told in the past that ultimately HAWC would also hook into Salem's water supply lines and this would ensure that all three towns would be adequately supplied with water in case of an extreme emergency.
Oh right. HAWC dug all those wells to help out Salem and Hampstead in an emergency. Oh sure.
December 29, 2009 2:37 PM
I know what you mean. People do tend to be called names for asking questions that others think everyone knows the answer to.
As the old saying goes, "There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers."
I had not heard about a possible Salem hookup. In one sense, I doubt it because HAWC does not own the Salem system.
HAWC has given a lot of reasons for needing new wells and the pipeline. Everyone has had holes punched in them by Atkinson's water advocates. HAWC claims the Atkinson system suffers from shortages, only it seems they've made little effort to remedy the 33% loss. Fix the leaks and they'd automatically gain an additional 33% capacity.
Harold claimed both Hampstead's and Atkinson's fire departments welcomed the new capacity. Only problem is that the fire chiefs in both towns never said that. If you dig back a ways you will find an entry by Carol Grant where she actually talked to both chiefs and both said things were just fine as they were.
Harold also said the new capacity and the pipeline were required for future expansion in Atkinson. Only problem, there is no room for future expansion in the areas served by HAWC.
In many cases over the last two years the truth and HAWC have been mutually exclusive.
Actually, Mr. Morse's variations of the truth can be found at www.just-goaway.com/puc_testimony.htm.
Keep this in mind, he was under oath when all this transpired.
The next time Lewis Inc. wants to sponsor a Little League team, ask yourselves, is the kind of example you want set for your kids?
These are not equations where one side equals the other. Morality is not where you can do a certain number of good acts to balance a number of bad acts. It is one thing to be repentant. It is quite another where you shake hands with a community while stabbing them in the back.
Some people claim government has too much control. HAWC is a prime example where control is required. For HAWC customers: Just imagine, given HAWC's track record, what your water would be like if limits were not set on its purity. Keep in mind, the current method for keeping uranium levels under the limit is by diluting the water to bring it in line. Doesn't that give you a lot of warm fuzzies when you make your coffee in the morning?
Frank will make sure the Lewis's are accountable, he thinks Harold should be removed from the board. He removed Peter.
Harold has absolutely no business being on either the Planning Board or Budget Committee.
Want to restore integrity to our local government? Why not start with one of the most blatant examples of a person with none.
Amen
The first step to take to resolve all town issues is to have a town moderator who does not play fast and loose with the rules and RSA laws at deliberative session.
Polito considers himself a LAWMAKER and this has to change. Instead of moderating he conspires to encourage hacks at deliberative session to turn valid citizen articles into meaningless garbage.
You think your trucking article is not going down to the same fate as all the other Citizen Petition Warrant Articles signed by hundreds of others? If you are not at deliberative session January 30th then you can watch your article go down in flames on TV. That's if the chief or another town official has not called your supporters and asked them "Why did you sign this SHIT" an hour after it is submitted.
You want to take back control of town government and see real transparency and punishment for theft of town services?
Then you must come to town deliberative session, January 30th and vote to strike evil at its core.
Vote for Frank Polito to step down as moderator for violating the Public Trust, legal RSA Rules and his own Moderator Rules. If the moderator says he can’t be removed and you are HELPLESS…then you need to decide if the town belongs to you, the honest citizens, or to THEM. If it belongs to the honest citizens and all of you SHOW UP then he will be the one who is HELPLESS.
A new moderator must give individuals ample time to explain ALL SIDES OF THE ISSURES with no heckling like Polito allows. Not to mention… follow the laws of public meetings.
To remove bullies and to protect your state laws and Constitional rights you must strike evil at its heart.
Come to deliberative session and vote for the moderator to step down. Then you can:
1. Freely discuss and vote on the theft of town services
2. Misappropriation of Homeland security grant equipment (we are now asked to buy a second time
3. Failure to supply legally required police reports
4. Failure of the ZBA board chairman Polito so that "loopholes" allowed the theft of Carol Davis land
5. The Lack of true separation of elderly affairs from the police dept sufficient to result in police staff in fact and by admission…working on the town clock illegally (“double-dipping”)
As to the last issue the selectmen know about the “Double-Dipping”, and asked IN SECRET for a check back for the money...then hid the facts from all voters so voters can issue reprimand at deliberative session January 30th
No more needs to be said. You know your responsibility. You will come to deliberative session January 305h…and hold them to account. You will vote to prevent rampant spending such that your property taxes double….or will you opt to spend your day shopping at Kittery only to find out later you can't AFFORD the luxury of living in your own home!!!
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