New Rules Stiffen Penalties For Water ‘Scofflaws’

CHATHAM – For people who’ve flouted town regulations curbing the use of town water for irrigation systems, it’s been something of a free ride for the last three-and-a-half years. But having approved stiffer new regulations this week, the select board is hoping the end of the line is approaching for these so-called water “scofflaws.”

 Acting as the town’s water commissioners, the select board unanimously adopted two changes Tuesday: one allows more severe penalties for violators, and the other raises rates for those who don’t have a separate water meter for their irrigation systems.

 “The goal here is to ensure fairness, promote water conservation and support responsible use of the town’s water resources,” board Chair Dean Nicastro said.

 The first change amends the town’s water regulations to specify that owners of noncompliant irrigation systems will first receive a warning letter that specifies that the process of installing a second meter must start within 30 days and be completed within an additional 90 days. Those who fail to comply face a fee of $300 per day.

 “That’s $100,000 a year, if someone is really problematic,” Nicastro said. Those who still don’t comply could face a town lawsuit.

 The change replaces older rules that imposed a warning, followed by a $100 fine, then a $200 fine, and then mandatory disconnection of the irrigation system. The rules were largely unenforced, and the penalties provided little financial incentive for property owners to comply, DPW Director Rob Faley said. Compared with the cost of applying for a new meter and paying a plumber to install it, “paying the $300 fine will actually be a cost savings, which leaves us with no other avenue for enforcement,” he said. The new beefed-up rules are designed to encourage compliance, Faley said.

 The second change to the regulations would increase the water rates paid by households that have irrigation systems that do not have a separate meter, which allows irrigation water to be billed at a substantially higher rate than standard household water use. Absent such a meter, customers with irrigation systems would have 80 percent of their total water consumption billed at the higher irrigation rate, with 20 percent billed at the lower household rate. That ratio matches the actual split experienced by 803 customers who have separate irrigation meters, as measured last summer, Faley said.

 The changes were endorsed by the water and sewer advisory committee, whose chair, Jeff Colby, said the goal was to improve equity among water ratepayers. Both changes aim to “move people in the right direction” by giving them the motivation to comply with the separate meter rule. Together, the new regulation “levels the playing field,” he said.

 Resident Hannah Smith said she wishes the select board had opted to target water scofflaws before it implemented a significant rate hike earlier this year.

 “The burden of higher rates should have been placed on those using tens of thousands of gallons of treated water — and in some cases, hundreds of thousands of gallons — per summer on their lawns without an irrigation meter, but instead is placed on local businesses and people that are already barely surviving with the high cost of living here,” she said.

 At the time of the increase, town officials said the extra revenue was needed to meet the rising cost of debt service on water system improvements. With that cost increasing each year, Faley said that shifting the burden to water scofflaws “would have taken some of the sting out of it, but we still would’ve had to raise rates.”

 Select board member Stuart Smith said that after the board adopts the new rates it should monitor revenue over time to see whether it might eventually be possible to lower water rates for those who have been complying with the rules.

 “That may be something that we want to consider,” he said.

 One challenge in implementing the new regulations is that the town currently does not know the number of noncompliant households. Faley said the town has hired a consultant working under a $15,000 contract to analyze water bills to identify people who likely have irrigation systems. That contractor “can use artificial intelligence to track those numbers down,” he said. While the town has some inkling of the number of noncompliant irrigation systems — for instance, by tracking the number of backflow-preventing check valves required for in-ground sprinklers — verifying that information can be a challenge. 

 “There are some residents who refuse to allow us access to their house,” he said.

 The new regulations, which were already vetted by town counsel, give the town the ability to begin issuing warning letters and imposing the $300 daily fine as early as this week. The new water rates are expected to take effect with the start of the second summer quarter of bills, which will be mailed in early October.