Politics & Government

Aquidneck Land Trust Completes Year-long Watershed Study

The Aquidneck Land Trust (ALT), with Salve Regina University and Roger Williams University, recently completed a year-long mapping and prioritization study of all the remaining and threatened open space parcels within Aquidneck Island's watershed areas.

The Aquidneck Land Trust (ALT), with assistance from Salve Regina University and Roger Williams University, recently completed a year-long mapping and prioritization study of all the remaining and threatened open space parcels within Aquidneck Island's seven primary watersheds.

A watershed, as defined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), is an area of land where all of the water that is under it or drains off of it goes into the same place.

Aquidneck Island's seven main watersheds are the Lawton Valley Reservoir, St. Mary's Pond, Sisson Pond, Bailey's Brook, Nelson Pond, Gardiner Pond and Maidford River Watersheds.

These watersheds support the Newport Water Department's seven surface water reservoirs on the island.

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The Newport Water Department also maintains a surface water reservoir in Tiverton, known as Nonquit Pond, and one in Little Compton, known as Watson Reservoir. Together, these nine surface water reservoirs supply water to most of Aquidneck Island's residents and visitors.

Developed areas affect water quality and quantity, according to the ALT. In developed areas, much of the land surface is covered by buildings and pavement which can prevent rain and snowmelt from soaking into the ground. Most urban and suburban areas rely on storm drains to carry large amounts of runoff from roofs and paved areas to nearby waterways.

The stormwater runoff carries pollutants, such as oil, dirt, chemicals and lawn fertilizers, directly to rivers, reservoirs and coastal areas which harms water quality.

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Laura Gabanski, senior EPA biologist and Healthy Watersheds Initiative leader, states, "The cost of protecting watersheds is much less than the cost of restoring impaired waters. Choosing to protect ecologically valuable systems will save money in the long run."

Aquidneck Island has been learning this lesson, according to the ALT. For example, in Bailey's Brook Watershed, the island's most heavily developed watershed, an expensive ultra violet stormwater treatment plant was built near Easton's Beach, in addition to the pursuit of other proposals such as a costly offshore stormwater discharge pipe, due to polluted water, contaminated stormwater runoff and the resulting beach closures and other problems.

During the course of the study, ALT identified almost 300 open space parcels, representing more than 3,000 acres, at risk of development within Aquidneck Island's seven primary watersheds.

Next, ALT prioritized these properties from a watershed protection perspective using six scoring criteria:

  1. Parcel an important buffer as is contiguous with a Critical Water Source;
  2. Parcel at least partially within subject watershed and within 200' of a Critical Water Source;
  3. Parcel an important buffer as is contiguous with a tributary of a Critical Water Source;
  4. Parcel contains at least three acres of forested area;
  5. Parcel contains at least three acres of wetland;
  6. Parcel contains 10 or more acres of undeveloped land.

A Critical Water Source was defined as Lawton Valley Reservoir, St. Mary's Pond, Sisson Pond, Nelson Pond, Gardiner Pond, North and South Easton Reservoirs, Bailey's Brook, Maidford River and Paradise Brook.

Out of this scoring process, three tiers of parcels for watershed protection were created, with Tier 1 parcels being the most important lands with the highest scores. There were about 100 Tier 1 parcels identified, representing almost 2,000 acres.

To better understand the importance of a Tier 1 parcel for watershed protection, it is helpful to look at an actual example, according to the ALT. 

The land off of East Main Road in Portsmouth had a Tier 1 score. The land is contiguous with St. Mary's Pond and thus directly buffers and protects this important island water reservoir. The land also has more than three acres of forest and wetlands.

Furthermore, the property has more than 10 acres of undeveloped land. Fortunately, on May 25, ALT signed an with St. Mary's Church and the Gibbs Trust that will give ALT until May 24, 2013 to raise $3 million to conserve about 70 acres of the St. Mary's Church land.

"Water quality and quantity are important for our health, quality of life, agricultural pursuits, businesses, wildlife, tourism and are simply basic to life itself. As with our Campaign to Save the St. Mary's Church Land, this watershed study will guide much of our conservation land acquisition activities going forward to help ensure lasting protections for our critical natural infrastructure.," said Ted Clement, ALT executive director.

For more information, visit www.AquidneckLandTrust.org.


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