LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The Planning Board heard a proposal from the Village Fire and Water District about a proposed drinking-water supply well at 40 Bull Hill Road.

Officials with the village and with project developers Tighe and Bond gave the project description at the Planning Board's meeting on Monday.

Since 2020, the district has relied on the Minor Road Well, which they said is lacking a redundant water supply source. The Bull Hill Road project will establish a second groundwater source to meet current and future water demands, according to their site plan review application.

The district had previously discontinued its Bridge Street well because of PFAS contamination. Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances are a wide variety of chemicals used in consumer products. Exposure to sufficiently elevated levels may cause developmental effects in infants, impact certain organ functions and the immune system, elevate cancer risk, and cause other health effects.

The project well on Bull Hill Road will be on property the district acquired some time ago. It became a prospect for development around five years ago after the state ordered the district to abandon the Bridge Street well.

The project is on about 1.45 acres of land and will be a source of drinking water for about 2,400 residents.

"There's been a variety of testing completed, as well as a larger well has been drilled at the site, and the larger well, in hopes, would become the production well, as again, the redundant water supply, that's all been permitted so far and tested in accordance with MassDEP drinking water program regulations, and all of the tests came back astonishingly positive," said Joseph Popielarczyk, senior project manager and water/wastewater leader at Tighe and Bond. "So there's lots of water down there, and the water quality is great."

Construction is tentatively expected sometime in 2027 or 2028. He said generator procurement could affect the schedule, with lead times estimated at 40 to 52 weeks. They noted the facility could be built and tested before the backup generator arrived.

The project team described remaining permits and approvals, including MassDEP review and an anticipated Conservation Commission order of conditions. They also said funding was in place, while the timeline remained partly dependent on state review.

Resident Barbara Davis-Hassan asked whether nearby septic systems could threaten the well and whether sewer connections might be possible. 

Popielarczyk said the properties were outside the required source water protection's 400-foot Zone One area, and said there is no worry of contamination from nearby septic systems.

Hassan also asked about what the noise level would be. Popielarczyk said that there will be a generator for the well and that it would be outdoors in an enclosure that will minimize sound and would run mainly for periodic testing or during a power outage.

The board accepted the site plan.