By Carol Britton Meyer

The ongoing issue of brown water that has affected customers of the Weir River Water System in Hingham, Hull, and North Cohasset – some for a prolonged period of time – will be the subject of a public meeting on Wednesday, June 26, at 2 p.m.

The Hingham Select Board, acting as water commissioners for the water system, will conduct the meeting in person at Hingham Town Hall in the third-floor meeting room. It also will be available for remote participation over Zoom; check www.hingham-ma.gov for the agenda and Zoom link.

This will be an opportunity for frustrated WRWS customers in Hull and the other two communities to express their concerns and to ask questions.

Weir River Water System Managing Director/Superintendent Russell Tierney will attend the meeting, and representatives of Veolia, the company that manages the system, have also been asked to be there.

“For people to see brown water coming out their faucets is totally unacceptable and falls far short of the standards the WRWS needs to maintain,” Hingham Select Board Chair Joseph Fisher said in an interview with The Hingham Anchor, an online news site.

Select Board member William Ramsey said he will be asking “a number of questions at the meeting that I want answers to. I want to know the cause of why this is happening; what can be done internally to prevent it from happening again; and how long the discolored water will continue. I also want to ask about the safety of the water -- what is actually in it? Nobody wants to drink brown water. Brown water is completely unacceptable under any circumstance.”

Fisher said the board as water commissioners “is on top” of the situation, including ensuring that Veolia notified the state Department of Environmental Protection about the discoloration issue. “MassDEP sets standards for safe drinking water in the state, and the results from tests on the WRWS water confirm it’s in compliance with DEP standards,” he said.

Ramsey also noted that heat waves are not uncommon during this time of year, “although we typically get these higher temperatures in July and August. [That said,] we haven’t had discolored water in the past during heat waves.”

Customers in Hull, Hingham, and Cohasset who would like to receive regular updates about the brown water issue and other WRWS news can subscribe on the WRWS website.

“We need to be sure the messages are getting out consistently and that we’re not missing folks but also to ensure we’re not overburdening WRWS customers with too many notifications,” Fisher said.

Brown water also affecting Hull restaurants

The discolored water is also a major concern for Hull restaurants, according to Brian Houlihan, who owns The Parrot in Hull, Bia Bistro in Cohasset, and Trident in Hingham.

At the Parrot, the water has been so discolored that staff have needed to change the filters on the ice and soda machines much more frequently than usual/

“We’ve also bought a ton of bottled water,” Houlihan told The Hull Times. “We’re using extra cleaning agents when we wash the dishes. The water for the whole building is filtered, but the system doesn’t get rid of everything, so we’re using five times the normal amount of filters.”

Beyond the inconvenience and added expense, “it’s a matter of trust,” he said. “Will people come to the Parrot and other Hull restaurants if they’re not aware whether the water is being filtered? Everyone needs to drink water, especially during a heat wave.”

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