Planning for Resilient Water Supply

Our region’s 17 municipalities and many private well owners face significant water supply challenges. Projected growth, both residential and non-residential, is likely to outpace permitted and/or available water withdrawals in the foreseeable future. Pressures on our shared water supply are exacerbated by the changing climate and water quality issues (e.g., PFAS and other emerging contaminants). Further compounding these issues is that many of our region’s waters are already ecologically impaired.

With these challenges becoming more acute and capital funding limited, the need for collaboration between municipalities and other stakeholders in the region is greater than ever. Our region needs sufficient investment in water infrastructure and improved water management, especially if housing and economic development goals are to be met. This project is building stakeholder consensus on what needs to be done to help ensure affordable, safe, plentiful, and ecologically sustainable water supplies for generations.

The Regional Water Plan is being developed through extensive stakeholder engagement and public participation. Once ready, by May 2025, the plan will help guide OCPC, municipalities, and other decision-makers in taking steps to achieve a sustainable, resilient water supply. The plan will include recommendations that, once implemented, will help

     • alleviate the housing and economic development impediment of limited and/or unsustainable water withdrawals

     • improve the ecological health of natural water systems

     • ease public health threats

     • help address affordability and climate resiliency concerns

The plan development process is already breaking down silos to improve communication about water, building trust, and developing strong stakeholder relationships.

The plan will present the region’s baseline water use and identify the drivers of water demand, such as new development. It will also present projections of future use, identifying the drivers that will likely influence demand, such as a changing climate. The supply-demand balance will be examined.

Short-term and long-term strategies and actions will be presented, informed by a robust, consensus-driven stakeholder engagement process and public participation. These recommendations may include, for example, specific proposals for new water infrastructure and/or improvements to existing infrastructure, innovative solutions such as water reuse, source water protection programs, water conservation initiatives, or institutional and/or policy changes.

Importantly, the plan will be adaptive, presenting multiple alternatives to accommodate changing water supply demands and social and environmental conditions over time. Whether water demand increases or decreases in the coming decades, and whatever climate trends emerge, the Regional Water Plan will provide a framework for responsive and proactive water management in the region.

The project steering committee meets monthly to collaboratively develop the Regional Water Plan with OCPC and our consultants, CDM Smith. All 17 cities and towns in the Old Colony Region are participating in the committee. In addition, other stakeholders are on the committee to represent federal and state regulators, elected officials, chambers of commerce, the agricultural sector, watershed associations, and environmental organizations.

Please review the Water Committee Terms of Reference for more information about the committee. Committee membership is listed here..

Work is being funded through a $470,000 U.S. Economic Development Administration grant. This grant is matched locally with another $470,000 from the following partners: Central Plymouth County Water District Commission; a state appropriation included in the FY22 Economic Development Bond Bill, led by Senator Michael Brady with support from both branches and the leadership of both; and the South Shore Chamber of Commerce / South Shore Economic Development Corporation. A grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program supports grant-writing and enhanced stakeholder engagement and public participation.

Consultants for this project were selected through a competitive procurement process. OCPC, in consultation with municipalities and other stakeholders, developed a Request for Proposals (RFP). This RFP was released on August 30, 2023, and widely advertised. OCPC scored received proposals based on criteria detailed in the RFP, and a Selection Committee of OCPC staff and funding partner representatives interviewed top-scoring respondents.

CDM Smith was awarded a $800,000 contract in October 2023. Their proposal includes Regina Villa Associates, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and the Alliance for Water Efficiency as partners. Work commenced in December 2023 and is expected to conclude by May 2025.