New from CommonWealth Beacon
VOTER TURNOUT: Lawrence, home to Massachusetts’s lowest voter turnout in 2022, grapples with a convergence of political corruption, voter apathy, and a lack of competition during this year’s midterm election, per Hallie Claflin’s dispatch from the Gateway City.
MIDTERMS: Democrats’ ability to retake power in Congress has elevated US Rep. Katherine Clark, a former state lawmaker, to become the first woman majority leader, reports Katie Castellani at State House News Service.
OPINION: Some of the biggest winners of Tuesday’s midterm election were pollsters, who largely accurately predicted the blue wave that ultimately came to fruition, writes W. Joseph Campbell, professor emeritus of communication at American University School of Communication.
November 6, 2026
By Jordan Wolman
The state’s biggest drinking water provider has nixed a groundbreaking request to draw an additional 20 million gallons of water per day out of the Quabbin Reservoir in a nod to the outrage it prompted within central Massachusetts communities.
The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, which serves 61 municipalities mostly in and around Greater Boston, had pursued its plan — by far the largest withdrawal request in its history — in order to meet growing demand from new communities like Weymouth and Wayland looking to join the system.
But in addition to the size of its proposal, which totaled 10 percent of average annual demand, the agency faced fierce backlash for the process it deployed to win approval from state regulators at the Water Resources Commission. The proposal added fuel to an escalating feud with the small rural towns surrounding the Quabbin and their representatives on Beacon Hill.
Water transfers like the one the MWRA pitched here are governed by the 40-year-old Interbasin Transfer Act, in which state officials ensure that the move is environmentally sound and meets demonstrated need for both what’s known as the donor basin, the resource sending water elsewhere, and the receiving basin, or the area taking in more water.
Yet for the first time in state history, the MWRA sought the greenlight from state regulators on its donor basin proposal separately, before any receiving basin requests that may come in the future in an effort to streamline the process and cut red tape. If advanced, the MWRA could have had donor basin approvals in hand by the time new communities attempt to receive the water and join the system.
“It is clear that the use of that regulatory option added to confusion and concern, rather than allaying it,” Stephen Estes-Smargiassi, MWRA’s interim executive director, wrote in a letter to the Water Resources Commission on Thursday.
More Context
More from CommonWealth Beacon
PUBLIC RECORDS: Massachusetts voters on Tuesday gave overwhelming approval to a ballot measure subjecting the House, Senate, and governor’s office to the state’s public records law. There’s just one catch: In the remaining eight weeks between the election and the start of the next lawmaking term, Democrats who control the Legislature might erase what voters decided in a landslide. Chris Lisinski has more.
BALLOT QUESTIONS: With all but one of the nine ballot measures decided, all but two of their outcomes official, and a slew of new policies heading into effect in the next few years, eyes are now on Beacon Hill and how legislators choose to respond to the will of the voters. Jennifer Smith explains how it all shook out.
OPINION: A Beacon Hill conference committee is negotiating legislation to restrict use of social media by young people. With huge evidence of the harmful impact of online platforms on youth, lawmakers should seize the chance to lead on the issue and not compromise on half-measures, writes Matthew Allaire, executive director of Commonwealth IRL, an advocacy group focused on reining in the influence of addictive technology on young people.
What We’re Reading
WIND: Vineyard Wind, the country’s largest offshore wind project, is now fully operational in time for winter. (WBUR)
LABOR: The monthslong strike at Encore Boston Harbor is over as workers ratify a new contract. (The Boston Globe – paywall)
CRIMINAL JUSTICE: A house for incarcerated women in Massachusetts is facing scrutiny over who can qualify for the services. (WBUR)
POLITICS: The GOP has been almost entirely shut out of power in New England – save for the controversial former Maine Gov. and US Rep.-elect Paul LePage. (The Boston Globe – paywall)
EDUCATION: Teachers in central Massachusetts are looking to resume contract negotiations. (Mass Live)
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