Regional Water Plan: Planning for Abundance and Ecological Sustainability in Plymouth’s Water Supply

On July 31, 2024, Community Land and Water Coalition participated in a round table discussion of local and regional environmental conservation organizations hosted by the Old Colony Planning Council. The goal of the roundtable discussion was to gather firsthand, on the ground knowledge from stakeholder groups about the challenges and opportunities in preserving local natural water resources. 

The Old Colony Planning Council developing its first Regional Water Plan. The goal is to address growing threats to water supply and water quality in the Southeastern Massachusetts region, including overdevelopment, conversion of open space to developed land, decreasing well depths, increased withdrawals, ecological damage, and degradation of local water quality.

According to OCPC, “The aim is to help ensure affordable, safe, abundant, and ecologically sustainable water now and into the future.”

A Steering Committee comprised of representatives from the 17 cities and towns in the Old Colony Planning Council region, along with consultants, state and federal officials, and environmental groups are working on the Plan. More information about the Regional Water Plan can be found on their website. A unique aspect of the Plans is that it’s goal is not to minimize damage to the environment from water withdrawals, but to actually make our ecosystems healthier through planning for abundance.

The robust roundtable discussion on July 31 resulted in a consensus over many roadblocks to ecological and water conservation in the region. 

During the discussion, the groups decided that one of the greatest challenges facing the region is how local residents, activists, and officials can communicate the benefits of water and land conservation to other decision makers. There is a trend in this region that municipal financial shortfalls must be met with increased development, and municipal water shortages must be met with new wells. One of the charges before this group of conservation organizations is the need to communicate the long term benefits of water conservation and protection of the land the connects it. The question is, how?

What You Can Do

You can help with the adoption of the Regional Water Plan and other water conservation measures by advocating for water conservation before the Boards and Committees at Plymouth Town Hall. The Select Board will ultimately be in charge of voting on and implementing the Regional Water Plan. The Select Board in Plymouth meets every other Tuesday at 6:00 pm at Plymouth Town Hall and on Zoom. There is an opportunity for open public comment at the end of the meeting.

You can advocate before the Select Board for Plymouth to adopt all of the recommendations in the Water Conservation Framework.

Familiarize yourself with the water conservation measures recently adopted by Plymouth, available on this YouTube video.

Adhere to Plymouth’s Seasonal Water Use Restrictions.

Read our Press Release about our second Land and Water Forum, filled with great ideas on how to get involved locally.

Watch our video, Community Planning for Conservation.