The Rhode Island Water Resources Board voted unanimously on Wednesday to allow four Jamestown households to connect to the town’s water.
The residents, who live just north of the Newport-Pell bridge along Seaview Avenue, say they ran out of usable water in their own wells more than two years ago. Some of the residents say the water in their homes is so brackish and flows so slowly that they had no choice but to move out. Their homes are situated just outside Jamestown’s urban Water District — a distinction the town’s Water and Sewer Commissioners used to deny the residents’ applications to connect to the town’s water.
According to a draft recommendation written by a committee within the state Water Resources Board, Jamestown incorrectly believed its Water and Sewer Commission has “exclusive authority to regulate which residents and businesses do and do not get potable water from its public water supply system in the town of Jamestown.”
In its recommendation, the committee also called Jamestown’s decision to deny the residents water “arbitrary and capricious,” saying it went against state law, which requires municipalities to allow single-family homeowners to connect to municipal water when they can prove that their existing or proposed well does not meet industry standards for depth or quality, and it is not feasible for them to drill a new well on their properties.
“This was the right decision. The people showed a dire need,” said George Palmiscano, the Land and Watershed Management Representative for the board.
The problem on Seaview Avenue began in early 2020 when the first of five households ran out of usable water. Now, three of the five families who ran out of water have vacated their homes. One family filed a separate suit and settled with the city several years ago, and will soon begin construction on their own extension.
Seaview Avenue resident Jeff Saletin said the process has been two years in the making for him, and he is glad to conclude this chapter of his life.
“We’re very pleased with the results,” he said.
Jamestown Town Administrator Ed Mello was less enthusiastic, but said he was expecting this vote.
“We’ll brief the commission, and it’d be up to them to decide what’s next from there,” he said. “The decision’s the decision.”
Jamestown is not connected to the Scituate reservoir like the majority of other communities in the state, meaning it must produce all of the water it provides to its residents. Mello has said that if people in Jamestown’s urban water district were to build out all of the buildable bedrooms that were allowed by the town’s zoning codes, and if each of those bedrooms were filled, the town might not have enough water to serve its customers.
The town also asked local state Sen. Dawn Euer to sponsor a bill that would exempt Jamestown from the state water law that requires it to allow extensions in circumstances such as these. A similar bill passed through the state Senate last year, but not the House. This session, bills are pending in both chambers.
