That Waltham City Engineer's Notice You May Have Received - Not a Scam

You may have recently received a notice purporting to be from the Waltham City Engineer's office and wondered, "is this legitimate?"

The answer -- yes, according to the city engineer.

The city engineer's office, along with a private firm, has notified some residents that workers need to inspect homes as part of an ongoing program to locate sources of water contamination, according to City Engineer Stephen Casazza. 

While only 12 notices have been sent so far, Casazza told Waltham Patch more will be sent in the future. Only some homes will be inspected, he said. 

Basically, the notice asks residents to schedule an appointment for workers from MWH (with which the city has contracted on the project) to inspect their homes for potential sources of contaminated water that ends up in city storm drains, according to Casazza. The work is part of an ongoing program mandated by the federal Environmental Protection Agency to eliminate contamination in local waterways. 

Delivery of the notice has caused several problems. MWH, which is responsible for delivery, stuffed them into mailboxes instead of mailing them, which Casazza said is a violation of U.S. Postal Service regulations. According to the post office website, placing notices in mailboxes without postage is a violation of post office rules. Others, he said, have been taped to homes. 

"I'll straighten that out," Casazza said, noting future notices will be delivered through the mail. 

Also, the current version of the notice had a typo -- it was missing the word "March" when referring to when inspectors would be in the area of certain homes.