Someone Cut the Locks Leading to Boston's Public Water Supply

The padlocks to hatches of an aqueduct outside of Boston that supplies drinking water to the metropolitan area were found cut Monday, leading to local concerns after there was a trespassing incident last month as well. Officials say the drinking water does not appear to have been tampered with.

Aerial view of the Hultman Aqueduct. (Image: WBZ video screenshot)

WBZ reported the incident occurring at the Hultman Aqueduct in Framingham, which is about 20 miles from Boston and is one of two lines that supplies drinking water. Three of the four padlocks at separate hatches each a half mile apart were found cut while the fourth had evidence of an attempt.

State police are investigating and said “there is no evidence of any crime other than vandalism," the CBS affiliate stated.

WCVB reported Massachusetts Water Resources Authority spokesperson Ria Convery saying they don't believe the locks had been cut for long due to scheduled checks of the aqueduct by workers. Frequency of the checks were not noted due to terrorism concerns.

WBZ reported a local resident saying the incident is scary after what happened at the Boston Marathon and that "the first thing that comes to anyone's head is terrorism."

The water authority has tested the supply and found no contamination.

"There is no evidence that there was any attempt to disrupt or contaminate the water supply. MWRA’s real-time water quality monitoring shows no change in water quality nor any sign of contamination," MWRA said in a statement, according to Boston.com.

Watch WBZ's report about the incident, of which officials have said there is no suspected links to terrorism:

In mid-May seven people were found trespassing at the Quabbin Reservoir in Belchertown prompting an investigation by state police as well. In a statement at the time, MWRA assured locals that its real-time monitoring system would detect any abnormalities in water quality immediately. Still, as an extra precaution water samples were analyzed for safety and found to be normal.