Springfield's Water & Sewer Commission

Raising Monthly Prices, but Selling Contaminated Water?

Jul 11, 2025

Springfield has always been an expensive place to live. As of 2024 Massachusetts is currently ranked 2nd on the list of highest cost of living index by the World Population Review website, only behind Hawaii. The review is pretty extensive, detailed, & fair in it’s review of all the states in the United States of America. They break down the cost of groceries, housing costs, utilities, transportation, & healthcare costs.

I’ve experience the housing issue first-hand while attempting to move out of my mom’s house after returning from college. The prices for a one bedroom was through the roof & the studio apartments weren’t much cheaper. I filled out tons of applications & talked on the phone for hours trying to find something affordable & in the budget. It was a struggle & I wasn’t having the best of luck. Everything looked good online, but of course when you get there in person the living conditions weren’t up to par with what I thought they should be.

Taxes are another outrageously priced thing in this state. We get taxed on the money we worked day & night for, then we have to pay taxes on the items we want to spend our already taxed money on. To drive a car in this state, you have to pass an annual inspection that is supposed to regulating the bad vehicles & keeping them off the road, but people find ways to cheat the system & get mechanics to give them stickers if they pay extra for them. For example, my car that I bought in 2018 was made in 2015 & from Florida. The previous owner installed tints that are dark enough to prevent the sun from being a distraction while operating the vehicle. Those same tints that I purchased the car with, cannot pass inspection here in Massachusetts because it’s “too dark”. The car runs perfectly & everything is in order, but I can’t cheat my way passed the damn machine they used at the inspection facilities. I tried a few times, but the mechanic told me to save my money & use it to get the tints removed.

The cost of food is sky rocketing & doesn’t appear to be stabilizing anytime soon. Yes our jobs offer higher paying wages than most, but they have to offset the already huge deficit we face living here. This post came after reading the stories of our Springfield Water & Sewer Commission plan on increasing the monthly fee for 94% of customers. I originally read this the day WWLP posted it on 06.24.25. Their plan is to raise the monthly bill, with a infrastructure renewal charge, to help fund their maintenance & construction repairs.

Honestly, I would think that the state of Massachusetts would help subsize the costs of their repairs. Seeing as water is essential & everyone should be allowed access to clean & affordable water. With that being said, the bill was slated to take effect on July 1st. Now today, 07.08.25, I read another headline & article claiming the same company, the Springfield Water & Sewer Commission is notifying customers not to drink the water because there are high contaminant levels detected.

Samples from June 3rd showed an exceedance of the maximum contaminant levels for HAA5 at two of the eight sample locations.

Seriously, reading the remaining of the article, I’m disgusted that the water commission thought it would go unnoticed. They are charging us to help maintain their current facilities & construction repairs, but they are not working on eliminating serious health concerns for the population in surrounding areas.

Apparently, they have been constructing a new West Parish Water Treatment Plant since 2024, but don’t have plans to see the finalized version until September of 2028! 4 years to build a facility that helps regulate & clean our drinking water?? 4 years? What are we paying for? I understand the construction of buildings & centers take time, but 4 years to help ensure our drinking water is safe & consumable?

Let’s not forget to mention that the samples they took that are clearly contaminated were found in early June. Weeks before the article was published stating they were raising the monthly water bill. Corporations & companies are more greedy than ever, even knowing people are struggling to maintain a life where they aren’t in debt. Those articles just rubbed me the wrong way because I live in a city & state I can’t really afford. I’m making it work, but I could be saving more if I move. I’m weighing my options for sure.

I feel weird with the link asking for you to support me by checking out my paintings for sale, right after complaining about prices, but supporting me is like supporting a local business or entrepreneur. I don’t have a large overhead & I don’t have a full team backing me. I’m working on bringing solid quality prints to the website for people to purchase their favorite shots!

Check out some of my paintings for sale! (Here)

I wanted to go to my favorite yard, but G&S had a conductor car on the line & were doing some work. At least, I thought they were because they had a few backup workers in trucks on the other side of the yard. I took a couple of pictures from the other side of the fence, but they aren’t my normal angles. Here’s some freebies for the fam

Turtles are pretty interesting creatures. They can live up to 150 years, but they are a prime example that time doesn’t always mean experience. I seen a video of a turtle who was on their back stuck. This lady comes over to help it get unstuck & flips it over. It then proceeds to start walking towards the water… but was off a cliff onto a hill. It looked like the canals they have in L.A, but the turtle went off the edge & immediately started to spin out of control down the hill. I couldn’t help but laugh at the reaction of the girl who was clearly traumatized. She records the whole thing & when the turtle gets to the bottom, it lands on its back… again

Get a copy of my magazine! Out now for only $8 (Here) Only a few copies left

RIP Eater

These poles are paint eaters! Beware if you’re using a light color. I used a whole can of white & I still wasn’t able to fill in the small portion at the bottom. Silly me for only bringing 1 white can on a mission.

Jumping the fence for those highway poles sliced my damn hand open. A nice scratch from the middle finger down to my wrist.

Capitalized on the No Kings Protest movement & made a tank highly visible on the highway for incoming visitors & those passing by to see. Sadly, all that remains at this spot is a grey wall.

On the way back home I figured I’d stop by the local For Sale garage shop that hasn’t been used in years! Someone is monitoring the property though, they painted over the other graffiti that appears on it from time to time.