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Peabody budgeters warn MWRA costs and PFAS treatment could raise water bills
Summary
City finance and water staff told council drought-driven MWRA purchases are the primary near-term cost driver; the city is piloting PFAS treatment options (GAC) and planning tank maintenance and service-line inventories that could add significant costs.
Finance director and water operations staff told the council the FY27 water budget is primarily driven by higher purchases from the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority as local groundwater basins remain depleted after consecutive dry years.
"We are in at least the second year of a drought at this point," an operations leader said, explaining that basin recharge is low and summer irrigation demand is high, which increases the city’s MWRA purchases. Finance director Mike Gingrich said MWRA purchases in the FY27 budget are projected to rise to roughly $3.4 million and are the principal cause of a nearly $1.9 million overall water budget increase.
Staff also outlined multi-year obligations that could add to operating and capital costs: PFAS mitigation (pilot projects and granular-activated-carbon systems at treatment plants), painting and maintenance of elevated tanks (Mount Pleasant and Cedar Grove), and a mandated service-line inventory to identify lead or galvanized connections. Gingras cautioned that some mitigation paths (capital retrofit versus operating treatment) could exceed municipal budgets — a capital option at the treatment plant could run into the millions.
Councilors asked about meter replacement — a previously bonded meter project was paused during a billing-software change but is moving forward; staff said better meters will help capture unaccounted-for-water and improve billing accuracy. The council voted unanimously later in the evening to approve the water and sewer enterprise budget ($23,409,144).
