Full Description

A small New England community has recently learned first-hand the importance of a sufficient water supply to meet the needs of both the natural environment and its ever-increasing population. Developing new water supply and storage areas can demand long and difficult state and federal permitting processes, as the town of Rockport, Massachusetts, knows after working for over two decades to expand its water supply and storage capacity. This paper describes the issues encountered by the town in that effort, and how the interests of protecting various natural resources were balanced with the town's need for drinking water. To determine the quantity of water that could be obtained from the town surface water sources, the town and its consultant performed a yield analysis of potential surface water supplies using a mass dynamic balance methodology. Using the environmental impacts evaluation and the yield analysis, a preferred water supply alternative was identified which utilized an optimal combination of stream diversions to provide an adequate water supply while also minimizing environmental impacts. The Town of Rockport's water supply and storage program illustrates many common issues that municipalities and commercial water companies may face when attempting to expand their water systems. This paper illustrates that undertaking a program to expand water supply and storage often requires extensive planning, natural resource studies, water supply modeling, long-term monitoring, and trade-offs between the need for human consumption of water and the need to protect wildlife species and wetland habitat.

Product Details

Published: 01/01/1999 ISBN(s): 1583210016 Number of Pages: 16File Size: 1 file , 3.3 MB