Mattapoisett voters reject $3.96 million water building as residents describe brown and black tap water

MATTAPOISETT Mattapoisett voters on Monday, Nov. 9, rejected a $3.96 million water and sewer department building after residents at the special town meeting described brown and black tap water and asked the town to fix the water first.

Article 2 needed a two-thirds vote and fell short on a show of hands, according to the town's video of the meeting. The moderator declared that the article failed to reach the two-thirds majority, and no count was announced.

The vote came after about 40 minutes of presentation and debate in which at least five residents described dark water, clogged filters and stained fixtures at their homes, two of them bringing photographs. Superintendent Henri Renauld answered that the town is relining old mains street by street and that the building and the pipe work can both be paid for. Several residents asked for a plan and a timeline to fix the water itself.

What residents told the meeting

"If this water came into your kitchen faucet, would you pour a glass of it and hand it to your child?" asked a resident and father, who brought photographs of what comes out of his faucets. "My neighbors experience the same issues, some worse than mine," he said. "I'm not here to criticize the water department or its employees." He ended with, "Please fix the water first."

A North Street resident said the water at his home has been a problem for more than 10 years, and that when the family first noticed it, baths for his young daughter came out "looking like black coffee." The water ruined clothing, towels and linens and a dishwasher, he said. "We contacted the water department dozens of times," he said. The family spent more than $1,000 on a whole house filter that is supposed to last six months, he said, and "We now have to replace it every two months." Residents, he said, deserve "a clear plan and a realistic timeline to fix the water itself."

A resident who moved to town about eight months ago said town officials came to the house, found a pipe that had been installed incorrectly and made improvements, and thanked them, but said the water is still "not something that we can drink," so he and his wife buy bottled water. A longtime resident said a filter that was white when it went in is now "totally black," and that "we've got to prioritize this first." A Marion Road resident asked how many homes are affected, and another resident asked why the town does not rebate bills for homes with bad water, saying her own bill was more than $900 for about six months.

South Coast 360 is not naming residents in this story. The resident whose home we visited and others who shared their accounts with us asked to stay anonymous, and we have left out every resident's name, including those who spoke at the meeting.

What South Coast 360 saw

On Nov. 9, South Coast 360 visited a Mattapoisett home with the problem. The water in the photos with this story came out of the home's filter housing when the filter was being changed, and it ran dark brown, close to black. The resident said the filter is rated for six months but has to be changed every three to four weeks because of the amount of sediment and contamination in the water. The town's own tests, below, put its water within federal and state standards, and the water department has not answered our questions.

Residents also sent written accounts for this story. A North Street mother of young children wrote that bathwater left "black and brown sediment" in the tub and on her children, and that the family was told each time it called that "the pipes are old and need to be replaced, and there is nothing they can do." A Hitching Post Road couple wrote that brown water became persistent in 2024, that the 5 micron filters on their $500 whole house system, meant to last up to six months, need changing every two to four weeks, and that they buy bottled water to drink. "This year we paid over $800 for dirty water," they wrote.

What the superintendent said

Renauld, superintendent for about 10 years, said the system he inherited was then 103 years old and is now 113, and that the mains he named are cast iron, which he called one of the things giving the department a big problem. He said minerals in the town's well water settle at low points where homes are tapped into the main and at couplings where two pipes meet, so some homes see darker water in the morning. On Hitching Post Road, he said, minerals sit in a pocket where two pieces of pipe meet.

About three weeks before the meeting, he said, crews found one home's service tapped on the wrong side of the main and corrected it. "I have an email from that resident stating that the water quality is quite a bit better. I'm not saying it's perfect," he said. The department plans to re-tap more homes into early winter and will "start the aggressive flushing program in that area again," he said.

For the longer fix, Renauld said the North Street main is "a 1913 pipe" now in design for relining, with construction money to be requested in May and work starting "hopefully next fall." Relining Pine Island is set for 2027, he said. "We have the money in place for that." The warrant for the May 11 town meeting listed $150,000 to design the North Street relining and $725,000 to reline the Pine Island water mains. The road rebuild of Main, Water and Beacon streets and Marion Road will replace the old cast iron main there with a 12 inch ductile main, he said. "We are trying to address every water quality issue to every resident in this town, every day. Do we need a building? Yes," he said.

No one on the stage gave a count of affected homes, a test result or a word on whether the water is safe to drink, according to the recording. Asked about bill relief, Renauld said the department's abatement policy is based mainly on leaks, and he made no commitment for discolored water.

The building

Article 2 would have taken $800,000 from water retained earnings and borrowed $3,156,500 to build on town land at the end of Industrial Drive. Renauld told voters the May 2024 town meeting approved $4.7 million for the project, the warrant for that meeting asked for $4,700,000, and the low bid came in at $6,784,500, which with $1,122,000 for contingency and engineering brings the total to $7,906,500.

Renauld said about $3.8 million saved on other projects would cover it, "So we're not looking at a rate increase on this project." Town Administrator Michael Lorenco said the building would have "no impact on taxes" because water and sewer run as an enterprise fund on their own rates. In a Nov. 2 email to South Coast 360, Lorenco wrote that the project "would be repaid through the water/sewer rates or water/sewer available funds." Renauld said crews now meet in a rented, unheated garage with "No bathroom, no plumbing, no heat," and that the department has paid $687,704 in rent from 2006 to 2026.

Voters approved the other articles that came to a vote, including $500,000 in free cash for engineering and other costs on the Main, Water, Beacon and Marion Road project, and postponed Article 9, on transfer station oversight, indefinitely.

What the records show

The water department's annual report on 2025 water says the town meets federal and state standards. It says the pH adjustment state and federal rules now require, which helps cut lead and copper, also turns iron and manganese into particles that "can sometimes show up as brown or reddish colored water," which it calls not harmful but "aesthetically displeasing," and it lists a highest manganese result of 134 parts per billion against a secondary guideline of 50 for taste and color and a health guideline of 300.

State sampling records for the Mattapoisett River Valley Water District's treatment plant, which supplies part of the town's water, show manganese above 50 parts per billion in 18 of 19 samples from December 2024 to early September 2025, with a high of 268 in February 2025, and in two of eight samples since mid September 2025, with a high of 77, by our count. Every one of those readings is under 300. The town's report says new filtration at the plant was nearly installed. The plant figures are not readings from household taps.

The state Department of Environmental Protection says on its manganese page that sediment stirred up in water mains can leave water "visibly discolored" with "higher than normal levels of manganese" for a time. It says infants under 1 should not be given water above 300 parts per billion, or formula made with it, for more than a total of 10 days a year, and that bathing and brushing teeth are fine.

Who we asked

South Coast 360 reached out Nov. 8 to Renauld, Lorenco and MassDEP, and Nov. 9 to the Select Board, the Board of Water and Sewer Commissioners, the Board of Health, state Rep. Mark Sylvia and state Sen. Mark Montigny, with questions about the discolored water, its cause and the plans to fix it. Renauld, Lorenco and the three boards did not answer. MassDEP's press office acknowledged our questions Nov. 9, and no answers have arrived. Sylvia's office sent an automatic reply.

Montigny's office answered. "Town officials have not requested assistance with this matter nor have we heard from residents," Audra Riding, his general counsel and legislative director, wrote Nov. 10. She said the town had asked for help with a water culvert, which the senator assisted with a $500,000 bond authorization, and that the office defers to local officials. We will add the town's answers when they come in.

What residents can do

• Report discolored water to the Water and Sewer Department at 508-758-4161, extension 200 or 204. After hours and on weekends, the department asks residents to call the police business line, 508-758-4141.
• Sign up for the department's Water/Sewer Emergency alerts through Notify Me on the town website, which the department uses for discolored water and hydrant flushing notices.
• For a home filter, MassDEP recommends a unit that removes dissolved metals, such as a cation exchange softener or reverse osmosis, and says activated carbon alone removes little manganese. Boiling does not remove manganese, the agency says.
• For babies, MassDEP and the town's report say formula should not be made with water above 300 parts per billion of manganese for more than 10 days a year, and MassDEP lists tested bottled water as one option.

Our preview of the warrant: Mattapoisett town meeting Nov. 9: water and sewer building, Main Street design and free cash.

Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.