The public comment period on the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority’s request to draw an average of 20 million more gallons of water per day from the Quabbin and Wachusett reservoirs closes at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. Four lawmakers from western and north central Massachusetts have asked the MWRA to withdraw the application before the state Water Resources Commission rules on it.
What the MWRA is asking for
The MWRA filed what is known as a Regional Water Supplier Donor Basin Application with the Water Resources Commission under the state Interbasin Transfer Act (Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 21, Sections 8B to 8D) and its regulations at 313 CMR 4.00. According to the commission’s public notice, the application seeks approval for an additional 20 million gallons per day (MGD), on average, to accommodate expanding the MWRA’s service area to multiple public water systems.
The MWRA’s sources sit in two river basins: the Chicopee River Basin, home to the Quabbin Reservoir, and the Nashua River Basin, home to the Wachusett Reservoir. Section 4.10 of the transfer regulations lets a regional water supply system ask the commission to evaluate the effects on the donor basin separately from the effects on the communities that would eventually receive the water. In practice, that means individual towns seeking to join the MWRA system would later handle their own receiving-area reviews.
What the MWRA’s analysis says
The authority’s donor basin analysis says the MWRA supplied an annual average demand of about 200 MGD in 2024 from a system with a safe yield of 300 MGD. The document modeled four scenarios: current demand of 200 MGD, current demand plus new communities at 220 MGD, projected growth within the existing service area at 260 MGD, and full use of the safe yield at 300 MGD.
Across all of those scenarios, the analysis states, required minimum releases to the Swift, Nashua and Ware rivers were met or exceeded. The MWRA concludes that it can supply the extra 20 MGD on average “without installation of additional facilities or changes to operating rules” and that impacts on reservoir levels, storage, aquatic base flow and flood flows in the donor basin would be minimal.
Lawmakers ask for a withdrawal
State Sen. Jo Comerford of Northampton is one of four regional lawmakers who signed a letter asking the MWRA to withdraw the application, State House News Service reported on Oct. 26. “The stakes are so high, we wanted to do every single human thing we could to try to prevent this from happening,” Comerford said. She added: “There isn’t a named party, a city or town waiting on this water as part of this application.”
The MWRA told the news service it appreciated lawmakers’ engagement and was reviewing the letter.
Critics have also questioned the oversight structure. Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper chairs the MWRA board, and a member of her staff chairs the Water Resources Commission that is reviewing the request, New England Public Media reported. In response to questions, the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs said the Legislature established the secretary’s role on both bodies and that Tepper does not act independently on behalf of either one, according to State House News Service reporter Ella Adams in an interview with NEPM.
Rep. Aaron Saunders (7th Hampden District) suggested the structure of both entities should be examined, and Sen. Jake Oliveira of Ludlow said the case is a chance for the commission to show it is not “a rubber stamp,” Adams told NEPM.
How to comment before the deadline
The commission is taking comments on two questions: whether the application meets the Interbasin Transfer Act’s environmental criteria, such as effects on fisheries, recreation and the aquatic ecosystem of the donor basin, and the process a regional supplier should use to request a higher transfer rate under Section 4.10.
- Deadline: 5 p.m. ET, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. The commission extended the original deadline by two weeks in an Oct. 7 notice.
- By email (encouraged): Vanessa.Curran@mass.gov.
- By mail: Water Resources Commission, Attention: Vandana Rao, EOEEA, 100 Cambridge Street, Suite 900, Boston, MA 02114.
- Reading the application: paper copies are at the Clapp Memorial Library in Belchertown and the Bigelow Free Public Library in Clinton, and the file is posted on the state’s Interbasin Transfer Act applications page.
A separate Sherborn request on the same day
The commission is also reviewing a much smaller, community-specific request. The North Sherborn Water and Sewer District wants to buy up to 0.08 MGD from the MWRA. Virtual hearings on that application are set for Oct. 28 at 11 a.m. (donor basin) and 2 p.m. (receiving area), with written comments accepted until 5 p.m. on Nov. 4. Commission staff expect to present a draft recommendation on the Sherborn request at the commission’s Dec. 10 meeting, followed by a hearing on Dec. 17.
What happens next
Once the comment period closes, the Water Resources Commission will weigh the testimony before deciding on the donor basin application. Any community that later wants to receive part of the 20 MGD would still need its own approval. For more on regional infrastructure decisions, see our coverage of the MBTA’s Siemens locomotive purchase and the Worcester homeowner summit on lead grants and city rules, and our look at the Boston Fed’s October Beige Book for New England.
Sources
- Water Resources Commission notice of comment period extension, via MWRA (Oct. 7, 2026)
- MWRA donor basin analysis, executive summary (PDF)
- State House News Service: Lawmakers want MWRA to pull plug on water request (Oct. 26, 2026)
- New England Public Media interview with Ella Adams (Oct. 26, 2026)
Additional sources
- Notice of public hearings on the North Sherborn Water and Sewer District application (Oct. 16, 2026)
- Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 21, Section 8B
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