Ninety-five percent
of Acton’s households get their water from the Acton Water District. This water comes entirely from shallow water wells from within the boundaries of the Town. Only certain geological settings are suitable for extracting water, and most of the good sites in Acton have been drilled already, or are unavailable for drilling. Conscientious conservation measures have kept Acton’s water usage within the boundaries of the available water supply. However, should any of the wells become unavailable, or precipitation patterns change, or development continue unchecked, Acton’s need for water could exceed the amount of water we can draw from within our borders. What will we do then?
You can access all of Green Acton’s coverage of issues that touch on water quantity by clicking on the links to the right under “More on Water Quantity.”
Some specific foci of Green Acton’s water quantity concerns have included:
- Nagog Pond: Concord’s application to expand its water treatment capacity at Nagog Pond brought to the foreground the 1884 Law under which Acton, Littleton, and Concord all have rights to water from Nagog Pond. This, in turn, catalyzed discussion about whether Acton needs additional water sources, above and beyond the existing groundwater wells.
- Drought: Acton faced critical droughts in 2016 and 2022, and a significant drought in 2020. But these were nothing compared to the multi-year catastrophic drought of the mid-1960’s. The climate change forecast calls for increased risk of summer drought as the century goes on.