On July 1st, the public came out to weigh in on the proposed Public Drinking Water Protection Ordinance.

The text of the proposed ordinance:

"No new landfills or opendumps as defined in 310 CMR 19 as amended, or expansions of newfacilities or new landfill cells, shall be allowed over aquifers, or inthe Zone II protection area of an aquifer, or any area zoned as a WaterSupply Protection District."

According to the Gazette, "approximately 100 people attended the public hearing," and the majority spoke in favor of the Council adopting the ordinance.

Here is the video of the hearing recorded by Adam Cohen. Video provided by North Street Neighborhood Association




There are three excerpts of the hearing that Adam Cohen of North Street Neighborhood Association has broken out to highlight the case being made by the Board of Public Works and by Water Not Waste.

The first video is of Terry Culhane, Chairman of the Board of Public Works, who believes that potential profits should take priority in the landfill debate question. (video provided by North Street Neighborhood Association )





The second video is of former City Councilor and current Board of Public Works member Jim Dostal, who read the report, verbatim, which was written by the Department of Public Works to state the case for expansion of the landfill. This document argues that there are no significant risks to expanding the landfill. (video provided by North Street Neighborhood Association )





The third video is of the presentation by Water Not Waste in documenting how the landfill already poses significant risk to the water supply, public opinion against expansion of the landfill over the Barnes Aquifer, potential earnings available from the use of solar panel arrays on the expansion land and possible costs and locations in shipping our garbage out of Northampton.
(video provided by North Street Neighborhood Association )







Other links covering this story:

North Street Neighborhood Association:

Videos: City Council Public Hearing - Drinking Water Protection Ordinance

Northampton Media:

BPW urges City Council to defeat landill ban; private operation of facility considered