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Water Department: The Block Island Water Company
privately supplied the New Shoreham business district
with water from 1900 - 1990. In 1990 the Company was
purchased by the Town Council. Currently, Town water
(within the Village district) is filtered and treated
by a plant with a 145,000 gpd capacity, planned for
expansion to 230,000 gpd.
Water District: Legislation was passed in 2000
to create a Water District under the jurisdiction of
the Board of Water Commissioners. The Water Commission
is currently experimenting with Geographic Information
Systems (GIS) mapping to display the new water district.
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click to enlarge |
Drinking Water Map: The map above
shows Block Island's well concentration on its single source
aquifer. It is clear by the number of wells how the aquifer
can easily overdraw the reservoir's save yeild of 75, 000
gpd on peak days. Additionally, the "Waterlines"
shown in red shows the islands limited water infrastructure,
present only in the Village district.
The Aquifer: As a sole source aquifer
Block Island has an extraordinary responsibility to preserve
its drinking water resources. Town water comes from a reservoir
at Sands Pond. This reservoir has a safe yield of 75,000 gallons
per day (gpd), which is greatly exceeded on peak days.
Wellhead
Survey Data: link here for information on individual
wells on Block Island provided by Clay Commons at the Rhode
Island Department of Health. The spreadsheet shows the location
of the well, well depth, and most importantly, potential nearby
contaminants within a 200 meter wellhead protection radius.
Private Wells: At peak demand
approximately 600,000 gpd is withdrawn from private wells.
The waterline infrastructure only exists for homes within
the Village district.
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