6. PRIVATE WELL BYLAW
Overview
The Massachusetts Water Management Act regulates surface and groundwater withdrawals that exceed 100,000 gallons per day, and public water suppliers in the Ipswich River watershed may be subject to water conservation performance standards under the Act. These water suppliers, in turn, may impose water conservation requirements on their customers through the passage of municipal bylaws like the water use restriction bylaw and automatic lawn irrigation bylaw. However, water users that rely on private wells or withdraw less than 100,000 gallons per day typically remain unregulated under the existing regulatory framework. The majority of these below-threshold private withdrawals are for non-essential outdoor uses such as lawn irrigation. In some cases, water tanker trucks and hydro-seeders owned by landscaping companies fill up directly from rivers during periods of stress, then transport the water to irrigate customers' lawns.
Private well bylaws can be designed to hold private well users to the same water conservation requirements as public water users. Communities can also develop ordinances to restrict direct water withdrawal from water bodies. For example, a town bylaw can prohibit the taking of water from any surface water source without advance written permission from the conservation commission, and require the user to pay the same rate as it would have cost to obtain the water from the public water supplier.
Local Examples
The town of Middleton, located in the Ipswich River watershed, regulates private wells by making its Irrigation/Outside Watering and Water Use Restriction Bylaws applicable to private wells in addition to users of town water. The preambles to both bylaws state, “All Middleton residents that are either customers of the public water supply system or private well users shall be subject to this by-law in order to preserve and maintain the Ipswich Watershed Basin.”
The water use restriction bylaw for the town of Falmouth, Massachusetts on Cape Cod states, “if the Board of Selectmen makes a specific finding that the shortage of water exists because of a clear and imminent threat to the sole source aquifer underlying Falmouth, such threats to include severe drought, environmental pollution or salt water intrusion, the restrictions adopted pursuant to Section 223-5 shall apply to all citizens, water users, and consumers regardless of the source of water supply.”
The town of Topsfield, located in the Ipswich River watershed, has taken a different approach to regulate private irrigation wells based on proximity to wetlands and riverfront areas. Topsfield passed a Private Well Bylaw that states, “If a parcel has access to town water, no well shall be constructed within the 100-foot Buffer Zone to any Wetland Resource Area or within the 200-food Riverfront Area of any perennial stream. When no other potable water source is available, a new Deep Drilled well may be considered within the 100-foot Buffer Zone to a Wetland Resource Area and/or within the outer 100 feet of 200-foot Riverfront Area solely for the purpose of non-irrigation single-family potable water source.”
Resources
Middleton Irrigation/Outside Watering Bylaw (pdf)
Middleton Water Use Restriction Bylaws (pdf)
Spillman, Lana, Topsfield Conservation Administrator. Presentation at Ipswich River Watershed Association Annual Meeting, June 2005
Water Wise Communities: Index
- Introduction & Using the Handbook
- How Development Affects Water (link to IRWA site)
- Checklist: Is Your Community Water Wise?
- Water Wise Tools:
