Woonsocket officials say they will carefully consider a proposal from a power plant company to buy water from municipal supplies. The city will also consider the concerns of residents.

Invenergy is proposing to buy water from Woonsocket for 20 years, boosting city coffers by millions.

“Twenty years is a long time,” said Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt.

She said the city, which owns its own reservoirs, has the capacity to meet the request for up to 20,000 gallons of water a day, but “we need to make certain that our language is very tight as far as the 20,000 gallons of water a day not turning into two million gallons of water a day.

“First and foremost, our water is primarily for our residents,” she said.

Baldelli-Hunt describes Woonsocket as “water-rich,” noting that the city hasn’t experienced any droughts in decades, but will consider future droughts when making a decision. The city will sell any surplus water to other customers if selling it stands to benefit Woonsocket residents.

“We have sold water to companies within the city of Woonsocket in years past that utilized far more water than this company is looking to purchase,” she said, “and we actually have users, currently, that purchase more water on a daily basis than they are requesting.” 

Woonsocket, like many former industrial cities and towns along the Blackstone River, was home to textile mills with dye houses that used large amounts of water to dye textiles. Now the city’s top water users include municipalities (Cumberland, North Smithfield and Blackstone, Massachusetts) and corporations, such as CVS Health’s corporate headquarters, Technic, Inc., and Stericycle.

Originally, Invenergy proposed to buy 52 million to 54 million gallons per year when they considered building a new water pipeline from Woonsocket to Burrillville.

“Even at that level, the [public works] department [along with the city’s water division] was comfortable with being able to provide that amount of water,” said the mayor.

Now Invenergy is planning to transport water from Woonsocket to Burrillville using trucks.

“We want to get a handle as to the amount of trucks they’ll be using per day or the range of trucks,” said Baldelli-Hunt. “Right now we believe it’s approximately three trucks. So we just want to be certain that the three trucks don’t turn into 50 trucks.”

The mayor added the administration and city council will also ensure language in any approved contract doesn’t leave room for “20,000 gallons of water a day turning into two million gallons of water a day.”

The city’s first public hearing takes place this Friday at Woonsocket High School to take comments and questions about the proposal. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and the informational session begins at 6:30 p.m. 

An overview of Invenergy’s preliminary water proposal

Invenergy plans to buy land for a water transportation facility that would house trucks and a filling station. Instead of taxes and other levies on that water facility, Invenergy would pay the city $200,000 every year for 20 years.

On top of that, the company would contribute $500,000 every year (with a three percent increase each year) to Woonsocket’s general fund for taxpayer relief.

The company also plans to set up a five-year scholarship fund (with $200,000 each year) for vocational education for residents or school athletic fields.

Bartelli-Hunt said Invenergy’s official offer comes after one month of closed meetings with her administration and a newly-appointed city council. 

Opponents of the power plant, including Burrillville town officials, have been urging Woonsocket to decline this offer, citing concerns about the power plant’s impact to public health and safety and the environment.  

“We are hopeful that Woonsocket, as it considers a proposal to provide water for the facility, will also closely examine the information from our experts regarding the potential damage this polluting monster will do,” said Burrillville Town Manager Michael Wood in an email statement.

“Our studies have shown that the plant could jeopardize our region’s environment, clean water and safety,” continued Wood. “The impact will be felt not just by Burrillville, but by surrounding communities as well – including Woonsocket.” 

Baldelli-Hunt said her administration and city council will review all of the information presented to them, including Burrillville’s impact analyses. She said as of right now, the city doesn’t plan to hire any experts to look into the project. 

Note: This post was updated on January 4.