CHARLESTOWN — The Charlestown Climate Resiliency Commission has launched an Aquifer Resilience Initiative aimed at increasing public awareness and improving the monitoring and understanding of the town’s groundwater supply.
The initiative comes after years of information gathering by the commission on climate change and its potential impacts on coastal communities in Rhode Island, including Charlestown. According to CRC member Sarah Racine, water supply and groundwater have consistently been among the most discussed topics during the commission’s research and public outreach.
“Through different sessions, we’ve brought in experts from the University of Rhode Island and other agencies like the Rhode Island Water Resources Board to assist stakeholders in making informed decisions about what’s going on with the future of our water supply,” Racine said. “We still don’t have an answer, essentially. The answer was constantly ‘I don’t know,’ and that seemed like an issue to us that we wanted to prioritize.”
Racine, who has a scientific background in hydrology and water resources, said the initiative is intended to take a proactive approach to understanding the aquifer before problems become difficult or impossible to address.
She said groundwater can be particularly challenging to monitor because changes to an aquifer are difficult to observe while they are happening. As a result, problems may not become apparent until a crisis occurs.
The commission held a kickoff public meeting on Sept. 10 to bring together Charlestown residents, state agencies and other interested parties and begin discussing the town’s groundwater resources. State Reps. Tina Spears, D-Dist. 36, which includes Charlestown, South Kingstown, New Shoreham and Westerly, and Megan Cotter, D-Dist. 39, which includes Exeter, Hopkinton and Richmond, attended the meeting.
The meeting also included an opportunity for residents to share their experiences with groundwater issues.
Racine said residents described private wells drying up for months after neighbors filled swimming pools, as well as water losses during a drought in 2013. Attendees also completed a survey about their experiences with water quality and quantity. About one-third of participants reported experiencing some type of issue with their water quality or quantity, Racine said, a higher percentage than the commission had anticipated.
“That was really fascinating and useful to hear those stories because I think it’s part of the systemic science that helps us to understand what those levels and thresholds are missing and where it needs to be developed a little bit more,” she said. “The main goal was to create a shared understanding and buy into the problem statement.”
The commission is now drafting a scope of work that would propose a study of the aquifer and its sustainable yield in different parts of Charlestown, both now and under future conditions.
Racine said the goal is to develop more consistent data that the town planner and other local and state decision-makers could use when considering development and other decisions that could affect groundwater.
The commission is working with the University of Rhode Island, the Rhode Island Water Resources Board and the U.S. Geological Survey. Racine said representatives from those organizations are expected to participate in future discussions and provide feedback as the initiative moves forward.
Once the scope of work is finalized, the commission also plans to present it to Cotter.
Racine emphasized the importance of protecting the aquifer because many Charlestown residents rely on private wells, while public wells also draw from the groundwater system.
“The aquifer is the sole lifeline for a lot of our communities that don’t have a public water supply system, and even a lot of communities that do,” Racine said. “The aquifer having good quality is essential; it’s drinking water, so it’s vital that we keep tabs on it and understand what is happening to it.”