Every year, after months of eagerly awaiting their first semester at Harvard, first-years finally get a true taste of life in Cambridge--when they turn on the water faucet.

A few times each year, Cambridge residents are confronted with a glass full of brown, murky liquid.

Although weekly tests of the Cambridge water supply by the city water department do meet standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency, city officials have nevertheless begun plans this year for a new water treatment facility at Fresh Pond.

The plant would replace or restore the existing facility there, which has been treating Cambridge drinking water since 1922.

Some areas of the current plant appeared to be in disrepair on a recent tour, with standing water underneath electrical wires, peeling paint and leaking ceilings.

Nancy E. Barnes, director of the Cambridge Water Department, says the water is safe to drink. But she also acknowledges that quality could be improved by a new water treatment plant combined with a new distribution system.

"One of the things everyone has come to face is the fact that with $40,000 [for a new plant], we can put out better water," says Barnes. She says the current facility has structural problems.

Watery Woes

Cambridge residents have long-bemoaned the brown color, tinny taste and unpleasant odor of their water.

Even city hall has installed bottled water coolers, according to city manager Robert W. Healy.

"City Hall has bottled water in some locations and fountain water in others," Healy says.

Healy says coolers were installed because public drinking fountains are difficult to keep clean since homeless people use them to "do their toiletries."

Harvard University has reacted to complaints from students and faculty by installing filters in some of the houses and by purchasing bottled water in some departments, according to Michael P. Berry, director of Harvard Dining Services.

Berry says he hopes to find a water conservation plan which will save enough money to allow Dining Services to install filters on all drinking water sources.

Berry says his filtration plans are not in reaction to student health risks, but stem from the water's taste.

"It does have a certain flavor," Berry chuckles.