EFUD announces third watershed public forum for Oct. 21

October 14, 2026 

To the citizens of the Edward Farrar Utility District and the community: 

On Oct. 21, the Edward Farrar Utility District commissioners will hold a third public meeting on matters relating to the protection and management of its waterworks properties in Waterbury and Stowe. The meeting will be held upstairs at the Waterbury Fire House at 43 South Main Street. It will begin at 6:30 p.m. and run for approximately two hours.

At this meeting, we will have brief presentations from officials at the Department of Forests, Parks & Recreation, the Stowe Land Trust, and the Vermont Mountain Biking Association. After that, we will open the floor to public comment. We hope to hear from EFUD ratepayers, people interested in outdoor recreation, business owners, and the public in general. We want to hear what people’s expectations for the use of the land are; if there is science about watershed protection of which we are unaware; how recreational activities, if allowed, can be managed; and how such management might be funded.

By way of background: The Edward Farrar Utility District owns approximately 500 acres of undeveloped, forested land in Waterbury and Stowe, from which it collects both surface and ground water to serve users’ demand for potable water. Roughly 90% of the waterworks property is in Stowe; approximately 50 acres are in Waterbury, along the town’s northern border. This property has long been used for unsanctioned recreational activities, primarily hiking and hunting.

At the end of last year, the district initiated this information-gathering process to underpin the development of a formal policy on the uses of the waterworks’ lands. The need for such a policy has arisen from concerns about the potentially adverse impacts on water quality that the recent and significant increase in unsanctioned activities on the land, if allowed to continue unmanaged or not prohibited altogether, might have.

The aim of our process is to educate the district’s commissioners, staff, ratepayers, and the public about the challenges that the watershed faces, the risks they create, and steps that can be taken to address them. 

We began in December with a session covering three topics: (1) the history and purpose of the District, (2) the law and regulation of public water systems, and (3) the challenges and means of source water quality protection. Presentations were given by local officials and state experts. 

This was followed in February with a session on (1) PFAS (forever chemicals) contamination of the Stowe Public Water System, (2) the natural resource value of the Waterbury Waterworks, and (3) an overview of how the Trescott watershed, which provides drinking water to Hanover, New Hampshire, manages its lands and their recreational uses. Both sessions had lively and elucidative public question-and-answer periods.

After this third session scheduled for Oct. 21, the commission will deliberate, during its regular meetings and ad hoc ones as needed, on a policy regarding non-jurisdictional uses of the waterworks property. A draft policy will be issued and public comment on it will be solicited. After that, a formal policy will be adopted.

This process will take some time. We greatly appreciate the patience—and assistance—of the citizens of the EFUD municipality and the broader public. Please join us on Oct. 21.

For further information, visit the EFUD page on the Town of Waterbury website here.

~ The EFUD Board of Commissioners: Chair P. Howard “Skip” Flanders and commissioners Robert Finucane, Cynthia Parks, Natalie Sherman and Rick Weston.