New treatment facility opens in Norton, but residents say water hasn’t improved

NORTON, Mass. — Norton has battled water woes for years so to try to remedy the issue, the town built a new water treatment facility to clean up the dirty water, but residents say things have only gotten worse.

Luke Grant, the chairman of Norton’s Water Sewer Commission, admitted to Boston 25 News’ Julianne Lima that even though the plant is partially up and running, things will get worse before they get better.

“What happens in the interim is there’s still some sediment in our lines from the prior water,” said Grant.

He says that sediment will be removed once the lines are flushed, which is set to begin in the spring.

He gave Boston 25 News an exclusive look inside the new facility and told us how it works. A chemical solution is added to the raw water that comes into the plant. It’s then forced through sand filters that pull out the iron and manganese. Eventually, water from the town’s three main wells will be filtered through.

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“It’s just completely undrinkable, I don’t like to shower in it,” said resident Jackie McMenimon.

Water rates are increasing in order to pay for the new plant over the next 20 years, so homeowners like McMenimon will help foot the bill.

“Not wildly expensive by any means… It’s more expensive than I would pay for water that I’m not using. I can probably spend easily $100 every week just on gallons of water," she said.

In addition to the expense of paying for her own bottled water, McMenimon says her white laundry has been dyed yellow and her toilets and sinks are permanently stained.

Grant says things will improve soon.

“A little bit more patience isn’t going to hurt. The water is going to improve significantly," he said.

Once it’s completely up and running, the plant will have the ability to filter 2.4 million gallons of water a day.

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