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Patricia Hickey, Graduate Student Patricia Hickey is working on a regional planning initiative with RI Sea Grant through the Coastal Resources Center. She did her undergraduate work at the University of California at Santa Cruz and is pursuing a master's degree in community planning at URI. |
The Pawcatuck watershed, a
308-square mile area in southern Rhode Island and southeastern Connecticut,
is a rural oasis amidst the heavily populated Northeast corridor of New
England. It contains 70 percent of the rare and endangered species found
in Rhode Island, some of the most extensive tracts of nonfragmented habitat
in southern New England, high quality (according to federal standards)
surface waters, and vitally important groundwater resources. In 1988,
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) designated the groundwater
resources of the watershed a sole-source aquifer, which signifies that
at least 50 percent of the population living in the watershed region is
entirely dependent on local groundwater resources for drinking water.
Because of these attributes, and at the request of people who live and
work in the watershed, the Pawcatuck watershed was selected by state and
federal environmental agencies as the site of a pilot study to test new
collaborative environmental management practices.
The Pawcatuck Watershed Partnership (PWP)
has brought together more than 40 government agencies, local organizations,
and municipal representatives to coordinate and focus management efforts
on the issues and concerns that are most important to the people who live
and work in the watershed. PWP addresses problems of local concern by
utilizing the technical expertise of universities and federal and state
agencies and the knowledge of local organizations. One of its first accomplishments
was to compile information on the natural resources of the watershed for
the Pawcatuck Watershed Report.
The 14-Town Action Committee (14-TAC),
comprising community-based organizations and town officials, was formed
to bring a strong, well-defined local perspective to PWP meetings and
activities. 14-TAC began by conducting an extensive survey of local concerns
and interests. Interviews were conducted with representatives from more
than 40 community groups concerned with the watershed. Those interviews
resulted in a brochure entitled What is the Future of the Pawcatuck
Watershed? The Future You Want!
This local initiative enabled 14-TAC, and
subsequently PWP, to more clearly gauge and articulate opportunities for
and threats to the Pawcatuck watershed. It also helped galvanize local
support and increase awareness of issues of regional concern. For example,
drinking water resources in the Pawcatuck watershed overlap the boundaries
of two states, 14 towns, and one Native American nation. The watershed's
sole-source aquifer provides the only drinking water for the approximately
60,0000 people living in the watershed region. As development pressures
continue to increase in the coming decades, so will concerns about the
safety of the source of drinking water. PWP is fostering municipal and
agency cooperation to ensure protection of this critical resource.
14-TAC also serves as an advocacy group
for sustainable development practices in the watershed by monitoring development
trends and activities. For example, the group successfully lobbied for
and initiated a technical review of an Environmental Impact Statement
(EIS) for a proposed highway expansion project. The proposed Route 2 transportation
improvement project in Stonington and North Stonington, Connecticut, is
slated for development over the region's sole-source aquifer recharge
area. If the EIS review had determined that the development project would
significantly impact the quality of groundwater resources in the watershed,
the project would be ineligible for federal monies because of sole-source
aquifer legal protections.
At the request of 14-TAC, technical experts
from PWP worked with local citizens and officials from the State of Connecticut,
reviewed the EIS prepared for the project, and raised questions that are
now being addressed by project engineers. In response to the organized
efforts of 14-TAC, EPA Region 1 Administrator John DeVillars has requested
further study of the impacts from roadway development on groundwater and
other natural resources in the Pawcatuck watershed region. He has requested
that local residents be more formally engaged in defining transportation
development solutions during the EIS process.
PWP actively works to enhance interagency
cooperation and program coordination in the watershed. Government agency
involvement in PWP has helped shift federal and state environmental management
efforts towards a better understanding of local conditions and priorities.
Federal agencies, such as U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources
Conservation Service, and EPA, work collaboratively with local decision-makers
and state agencies. During the last few years, these agencies have provided
significant funding to an array of local watershed projects and programs.
At the state level, a number of government
agencies have committed staff time and funding to partnership efforts.
For instance, the RI Department of Environmental Management, Division
of Water Resources, took the lead in organizing the Pawcatuck Watershed
Partnership's Water Use Stakeholders Group. Formed in March 1997, this
group of private, public, municipal, and agency representatives worked
together to find solutions for sustainable water use in the watershed
region. The group is sponsoring an important pilot project in the Queen-Usquepaug
River sub-basin in the northeastern section of the watershed that may
become a model for non-regulatory water-use management in the larger Pawcatuck
watershed. Project coordinators are working to enlist the support of all
water use interests in the pilot area. With the help of the U.S. Geological
Survey, the group will study and quantify how much water is available
in the sub-basin. This information will then provide a basis for managing
future water use in an equitable manner.
As a pilot project for experimenting with
new forms of collaborative management, PWP has proved relatively successful
in its first three years. It has brought together a diverse group of individuals
and organizations, fostered collaborative thinking and activities, and
forged new working relationships and networks. One of the Partnership's
greatest challenges was to overcome traditional biases and misgivings
between local stakeholders and government agencies. PWP has succeeded
in establishing new levels of trust, cooperation, and understanding among
stakeholder groups.
