DPW: Temporary Switch of Bedford Water Sources a Success

A temporary switch of Bedford’s water sources went off without a hitch and successfully provided a better source of disinfection.

The town usually hooks into the MWRA water pipes, but from mid-April to mid-May Bedford got its water from Burlington.

Adrienne St. John, the town’s Publc Works Engineer and acting DPW director, said the move worked.

Public works officials worried that the town’s water was not being properly disinfected.

“We’re the last town on the MWRA water system,” St. John said. “It has to get from the Quabbin (Reservoir) to the Marlborough treatment plant into Boston and back out to Bedford. We were getting low chlorine residuals.”

Few people noticed the difference in Bedford’s water.

“I got a few calls saying that the water tasted different,” St. John said. 

Burlington used straight chlorine during the time of the switch over, rather than the chloramines (a mix of chlorine and ammonia) used by the MWRA. The chlorine assists with disinfecting. Because it is coming from the town next door, rather than through the whole MWRA system, the chlorine levels are higher, St. John said.

In the past, the chlorine residuals have been low in certain parts of town, including West Bedford and the northern part of town, St. John said.

When chlorine levels are low, protocoliform can form. That can be a precursor to an E. coli outbreak, she said.

Another step to reduce the likelihood of protocoliform is cleaning and relining the water main along the Great Road. It dates back to 1908, and is Bedford’s first water main, St. John said.