Excerpts from AN ORDINANCE IN RELATION TO ZONING

Ordinance N0. 218

ARTICLE VII
§ 218-36 Groundwater Protection District (8-10-98)

Groundwater Protection District (GWP) has the purpose of protecting, preserving and maintaining the quality and supply of the groundwater resources upon which the Town depends upon for present and future water supply. From an environmental standpoint, Charlestown has recognized that regulations on land use and land use practices are essential to protecting groundwater quality.

DESIGNATION- GWP includes the wellhead protection areas, aquifer reservoirs and recharge areas:

Wellhead Protection Areas

- delineated by the RI DEM in the Rhode Island Wellhead Protection Program, RI DEM, May, 1995 and amendments thereto.

Groundwater Reservoir and Critical Recharge Areas

- Lower Wood, Beaver-Pasquiset and Bradford groundwater reservoirs and their critical portions of their recharge area as delineated by RI DEM according to the methods in Policies and Procedures for Mapping Recharge Areas to Groundwater Reservoirs for GAA classification, RI DEM, March 1990.

Discrepancy

-It is the applicant's responsibility to prove the proposed site is outside the groundwater protection area.

Examples of Prohibited Activities in Wellhead Protection Areas:

- Any uses not permitted in the underlying zoning district, prohibited in § 218-31, Prohibited Uses.
- Any quantity of underground storage of petroleum products and hazardous material.
- All uses that discharge wastewater on-site to the subsurface through septic systems, injection wells, dry wells, galleys or other means; except for the discharge of sanitary waste with an approved RI DEM individual sewage disposal (ISDS).

Site Plan Review

-Applicant must prove that the proposed use will not contaminate groundwater to the extent that groundwater cannot be used for drinking water supply.
-Applicant must submit an Environmental Impact Statement that includes:
-Complete list of chemical, pesticides, petroleum products, and other hazardous materials to be used/ stored on site, and proposed measures to protect them.
-Detail proposal plan. (Dimensions, grading, drainage facilities, roads, utilities and material and specifications for building construction)
-Erosion and sedimentation control plan conforming to 1989 RI Soil Erosion and Sediment Control Handbook and amendments thereto.
-Stormwater management plan conforming to the 1993 RI Stormwater and Installation Standards Manual and amendments thereto.