The Lynnfield Center Water District’s (LCWD’s) application to join the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority (MWRA) water system has cleared its final hurdle, as the MWRA Board of Directors voted unanimously on Aug. 20 to begin supplying water to the District through a recently completed interconnection with the Town of Wakefield.
The MWRA’s vote came at a special meeting held just weeks after legislation filed by House Minority Leader Bradley H. Jones Jr. (R-North Reading) and State Sen. Brendan P. Crighton (D-Lynn) to facilitate the District’s entry into the MWRA was signed into law as Chapter 15 of the Acts of 2025.
In addition to approving the LCWD’s admission to the MWRA, the board also agreed to waive the entrance fee, saving the District nearly $1.7 million, and formally authorized MWRA Executive Director Fred Laskey to execute a water supply agreement with the District.
Under the agreement, the MWRA can supply the LCWD with up to 102 million gallons of water per year, which should help alleviate some of the pressures on the current system by providing the LCWD with a safe and reliable supplemental water source.
“We are extremely happy to see closure with this lengthy, very technical, multiyear process and are eager to now start introducing this new source into our system,” said LCWD and Lynnfield DPW Director John Scenna. “Rep. Jones and Sen. Crighton both worked extremely hard in getting the process expedited through this last legislative phase.
“We look forward to working with our new partners at the MWRA and the Town of Wakefield as we move forward,” Scenna said.
LCWD Chairman of the Board of Commissioners Steve Walsh said “LCWD customers will experience a tremendous benefit starting in the summer of 2026 and forever more, as will our ability to properly operate our system for public safety purposes.
“We also tremendously appreciate the MWRA waiver regarding the entrance fee. This is yet another opportunity our team worked closely and collaboratively with state agencies to save our District customers real money, all while obtaining a huge benefit to our infrastructure.”
“This is tremendous news for the Lynnfield Center Water District and its customers,” said Jones. “The Town has been operating under severe water restrictions for most of the summer, but the new water supply arrangement will help prevent dangerous drought situations in the future so that water service and fire suppression capabilities are not compromised.
“My thanks to John Scenna, Steven Walsh and the LCWD’s Board of Commissioners for pursuing this agreement on behalf of the town’s ratepayers, and to the MWRA’s Board of Directors for their support.”
“With this approval, customers of the Lynnfield Center Water District can be confident that their water service and fire suppression systems will be able to fully function, even under difficult drought situations like we’ve been experiencing in recent years,” said Crighton. “Thank you to all of the town officials, LCWD’s Board of Commissioners, and the MWRA’s Board of Directors for coming together to close out this process.”
A vote taken at the May 10, 2021 Annual District Meeting authorized the LCWD to begin the process of joining the MWRA through the construction of an interconnection with the Town of Wakefield, which was completed in June. An intermunicipal agreement between the District and Wakefield governing this interconnection took effect on April 20, 2023 and runs through April 9, 2043.
The LCWD submitted its initial draft application to the MWRA on May 6, after first securing several regulatory and other approvals from state agencies such as the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, the Massachusetts Water Resources Commission and the MWRA Advisory Board, pursuant to the requirements of the MWRA’s operating policy governing new admissions.
The final application was filed on Aug. 7, following the signing of the enabling legislation needed before the MWRA Board of Directors could formally vote on the District’s request for admission.
The LCWD currently draws its water supply from four groundwater sources located in the Ipswich River and North Coastal Basins. The District has been working aggressively to address elevated levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, manganese, iron and nitrate found in these water sources, along with low flow conditions in the Ipswich River Basin.
Bringing the new Wakefield interconnection online will provide more resiliency and redundancy in the District’s water system.
Approximately 70% of the Town of Lynnfield’s residents currently receive their drinking water through the LCWD. The District serves approximately 8,500 residents while also providing water for 18 commercial and business accounts as well as four local schools and all of Lynnfield’s municipal facilities.
