Proposed Water Restriction Bylaw Changes

The Board of Water Commissioners has proposed several amendments to the Town's Water Restriction By-law to reflect changes made to the Town's water withdrawal permit by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. One of DEP's modifications requires the Town make a choice about who must follow conservation measures during periods of low Ipswich River streamflow. The choice is between whether all residents, including those with private wells, are allowed to do some watering or the Town's water customers are not allowed to water at all.

There will be a public hearing to discuss the proposed amendments on April 24th at 7:30 P.M. at the Town Library. All residents are welcome to attend. Residents will receive a notice via mail in advance of the hearing and copies of the proposed changes are available at the Water Department offfice and online.

Document showing proposed changes:

Click here to obtain a copy (pdf) of the proposed changes. The bylaw amendments are a result of several studies conducted by USGS and the modification of our permit by DEP.

The proposed changes clearly define the conditions needed to impose conservation measures and which measures are appropriate. To help illustrate the conditions, the applicable conservation measures and to whom they apply we have created a water conservation measure matrix.

Additional Information:

A list of frequently asked questions is available online and was mailed to all households. Would you like to see where Topsfield is located in the Ipswich River Basin? View a map showing the basin and the other cities and towns that rely on the basin for all or part of their water supply needs. Please contact the Water Department at (978) 887-1517 if you have any further questions.