Key Players for New Water Authority Pipeline 'Out of Loop'

The Bristol County Water Authority plans to build a pipeline through East Providence to Pawtucket as a second source of water, but local knowledge of that plan appears to have ended with recently fired City Manager Peter Graczykowski. 

Except for officials in the water utilities division in East Providence, no one seems to have shared information on the plan with local officials. The water authority needs East Providence's support to make the pipeline a reality.

“There is no assurance from East Providence that it will support this,” said BCWA Executive Director Pamela Marchand.

East Providence City Councilor Jim Briden said the City Council will interview interim City Manager candidates tonight in Council Chambers at 7:30 p.m., and likely vote which one will get that job by the meeting's end. Briden said the new City Manager will review the plan and make a presentation to the Council on it at a future meeting.

Even though the city’s share of cash for the project would come from ratepayers, not the city budget, Marchand said, the city still owns the land and it governs the water utilities division, which is part of the public works department. 

BCWA would also need East Providence’s OK to build a second underground mixing station near an emergency water station at the Silver Spring Golf Course off of Pawtucket Avenue. 

Lack of support for the project could doom it, said Marchand, though she said the pipeline could help East Providence solve some of its own water problems – such as aging pipelines from Providence for Scituate Reservoir water. 

The lack of awareness about the project, she said, apparently stems from the fact that no one has yet made a formal presentation to the Council seeking support of the pipeline. No one from East Providence, in fact, attended a meeting outlining the project for Barrington, Warren and Bristol town councilors hosted by the BCWA several weeks ago.

Awareness of the project appears to have stopped with the city manager, she said. 

“And, as you probably know, East Providence dismissed its city manager recently,” Marchand said.

The lack of awareness of the pipeline project by East Providence officials came to light at the Warren Town Council meeting on Tuesday evening, Nov. 12, during a report by two of the town’s representatives on the board. It dominated conversation of the pipeline project at a special meeting of the BCWA board on Wednesday night, Nov. 13.

It definitely seems like East Providence is out of the loop, said Bill Gosselin and Ray Palmieri of Warren.

“We can fix that,” said BCWA Board Chairman Allan Klepper of Barrington. “We can take steps to do that.” 

Klepper said he plans to contact the head of the East Providence City Council, Mayor James Briden, to brief him on the project and get city officials up to speed. Briden said he'll forward the information to the interim City Manager.