Water Resources 10.0: Introduction

The Vineyard is blessed with an abundant supply of clean groundwater that greatly exceeds our present-day and projected drinking water needs. Surface waters ring the perimeter of the Island and include fragile great ponds, fed by streams in the Western Moraine and cut off from the sea by barrier beaches. Tidal ponds are important sources of shellfish, finfish and provide significant aesthetic and recreational value, thereby supporting the Island’s tourism industry.  Both groundwater and surface waters are susceptible to pollutants that can threaten the health of these systems and our human community.

Over the past generation, rapid growth on the Vineyard has heightened concerns about how to ensure that the quantity and quality of the Island’s water resources remain sustainable. Though many variables are involved, one conclusion is inevitable; if we do not act to protect Island water resources, what we now take for granted will be forever lost.

Everyone needs clean drinking water and protection from wastewater’s health hazards. The Vineyard faces the added challenge of protecting our fragile coastal ponds and other surface waters, key to our economy and quality of life. All of our water resources – wetlands, streams, groundwater, fresh and coastal ponds and estuaries – are intimately connected by the hydrological water cycle that links them so closely that impairment to one component impacts the others.  The future sustainability of our waters as high quality resources is dependent on good management of our watersheds and coastal resources.  Even the slightest degradation to these natural resources has a direct impact on our economy, recreation, and daily appreciation of our surroundings. 

Our water quality will be determined by the way we manage growth, by how we deal with existing development, and by our ongoing activities, as discussed in other sections of the Island Plan. For example, in watersheds where nitrogen already exceeds, or is projected to exceed, the safe load levels for coastal ponds, we should attempt to limit new housing (which generates nitrogen from wastewater) or row-crop farming (which generates nitrogen from fertilizer), or put in adequate treatment and mitigation measures. On the other hand, these watersheds are good places to be preserving open space, which avoids additional nitrogen loading. Similarly, we should consider the ecological impacts when planning water activities or resolving water-use conflicts, such as by favoring shellfish aquaculture that benefits water quality over jets skis that have negative impacts.