Littleton Board of Health Continues Well-Regulation Debate, Approves $12,454 Health Invoice

LITTLETON -- June 14, 2023, Littleton Board of Health advances draft private well regulations but punts final vote to June 28. The board, meeting June 14, continued public hearings on both a proposed well-regulation framework drawn from a February 2023 Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection model and a housing order for 37 Dogwood Road, where Environmental Health Agent Jim Graffi identified a bedroom with ceiling heights ranging from 81 inches down to 68 inches, below the state's habitable-room standard, that is currently occupied by two children. On the well regulations, board members debated the cost burden on an estimated 250 to 580 households with private wells: a full annual test panel including PFAS runs roughly $1,060 at the nearest certified lab, while a comprehensive 10-year panel runs approximately $700, and a bare-minimum annual coliform test costs around $100 to $125. Chair Dan Kane raised unresolved enforcement questions, "any regulation without an enforcement mechanism is merely a recommendation", while the board considered a point-of-sale disclosure model analogous to Title 5 septic inspections. The board unanimously approved a $12,454.54 quarterly invoice to the Nashoba Associated Boards of Health covering nursing and environmental services for the first quarter of fiscal year 2024.