“Aquidneck Island Residents Can Help Improve Water Quality” from EcoRI News

By Colleen Cronin / ecoRI News staff

November 2, 2023

MIDDLETOWN, R.I. — When it rains on West Main Road, some water runs into the town’s stormwater infrastructure and some is absorbed into the soil, but inevitably some of the rain ends up in Bailey Brook.

On the way, it picks up fertilizer from treated lawns, oils from asphalt, and leaks from cars. Sometimes, the water rush even grabs trash and litter.

Eventually, it flows from the brook, with all these contaminants, to the drinking water supply at Easton Pond.

Runoff contaminates all seven Newport Water Division reservoirs on Aquidneck Island, to the point they are all considered impaired by the state and the Environmental Protection Agency. The water is treated and comes out of the faucet of Aquidneck Island homes clean, at great cost and effort. But over the past few years, local stakeholders have come together to make the water cleaner and safer at the source…Click to continue reading on EcoRI News.