If you had attended Wednesday’s meeting of the Weir River Water System Board of Commissioners looking for answers on why Hull residents were forced to suffer through days of brown water, you’d have been disappointed.

Officials of the company that actually operates the water system didn’t apologize for the lingering effects of the crisis (only the chair of the commission did so in his opening remarks), but instead spent the majority of the three-hour meeting offering excuses and platitudes that did not inspire confidence that our water system is in good hands.

The reasons given for the prolonged bout of discolored water – a surge in demand due to the heat, a drop in the level of the Turkey Hill tank that stirred up sediment, a water main break near the Hingham Library, old pipes that need upgrades, the need for improved system flushing, and “factors currently unknown at this time” – were unconvincing. As some members of the public pointed out, Hull residents have been dealing with discolored water for much longer than a week. Our “emergency” of poor water quality has become a fact of life.

It's outrageous that so many Hull homes had brown sludge oozing out of their faucets, staining appliances, ruining laundry, delaying showers, and making residents hesitant to drink the water for which we continue to pay high rates. How many Hullonians have had to throw out clothes that are now permanently discolored? How many have sediment and stains in their sinks, dishwashers, and other appliances? What about Hull’s restaurants, which were forced to pay for extra filtration, purchase bags of ice, and try to convince potential customers that it was safe to patronize their dining rooms?

Wednesday’s meeting provided no promise of financial relief, although when questioned by the Hull Select Board later that evening, company officials said they were discussing the potential of issuing credits to customers. There’s no need for discussion – do it now!

The Hingham meeting also didn’t capture customers’ full level of anger and outrage, likely because it was held on a Wednesday afternoon, when many people were still at work. Many Hull residents also did not know the meeting was even happening.

Those who did attend heard employees of Veolia, the company hired by the Town of Hingham to operate the system, describe a situation in which the storage tank’s water level dropped by 17 feet overnight – four feet more than normal – that triggered the problem. Under questioning from Hingham select board member (and water commissioner) Bill Ramsey, Veolia’s senior vice president couldn’t answer why it took so long for employees to alert senior management. After several critical hours had passed, there was not enough time to pump enough water into the tank to bring the levels back up to normal.

The company did admit that its communication was poor. Hull residents who called the company said customer service reps had no information about the brown water problem in Hull, Hingham, and North Cohasset. On Saturday, the Cohasset Police Department posted on Facebook that “WRWS has not contacted CPD at all at this point. We’re reading their website like everyone else.” Hull’s emergency management director, Fire Chief Chris Russo, took the lead on communications and did an admirable job keeping Hull residents informed on social media.

One Hull resident said she had contacted the water company’s Citizens Advisory Board, which has two members from Hull, about water quality and had not received a response. We’re not surprised. Before Wednesday’s joint meeting with the water commissioners, the CAB hadn’t met in almost a year. There are no minutes posted from any of its meetings. In fact, earlier this week, the CAB’s page on the water system’s website didn’t even have an accurate list of its members. When finally updated, the name of the Hull Select Board’s rep, Brian McCarthy, was misspelled. So much for attention to details.

Veolia officials offered no great insights to customers, except a pledge to do better.

Hull can’t afford to wait for them to get their act together. We were told that the Town of Hingham’s purchase of the water system from the dreaded Aquarion was supposed to give ratepayers more control over operations and a greater say in how things are managed. We appear to be right back where we were before the purchase in 2019.

The Hull Select Board is now in the process of discussing its goals for the coming year. We think members should consider forming a watchdog committee of Hull residents to monitor the Weir River Water System’s operations, and it should meet more often than the current Citizens Advisory Board. This same committee also could be charged with looking at other water options, such as desalination, which was studied in Hull years ago. Perhaps the technology has advanced to a point where it would be cost-effective for the town to source its own product, or at least supplement the supply coming through the century-old water pipes from Hingham.

The water company says it’s planning to rebuild the tank on Strawberry Hill to hold a million gallons – double the size of the old one. That is a step in the right direction to help stabilize water pressure in town. The company also should explore whether secondary treatment of the water once it enters Hull could reduce discoloration in residents’ homes.

We’re not water engineers, but we’re trying. The Weir River Water System owes it to its customers to try even harder.

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