Westerly’s water system is bumping up against its limits as new development moves in, a town official told the Westerly Town Council this week, while council members separately questioned how far an 1880s agreement to supply water across the river to Pawcatuck, Connecticut actually extends. The council held its discussion of the water system and the Pawcatuck agreement on Monday, September 28, in Westerly, Rhode Island, but took no vote on the matter.
The water system is near capacity, and a town official said it is maxing out its capacity limits, according to Uprise RI. The same official said the system will likely need a new well and a new pumping station, with that project probably costing somewhere between $4 million and $5 million. Over the last 20 years, Westerly has added two new wells and repaired its distribution system, but officials indicated those upgrades may no longer be enough to keep pace with growth.
Westerly’s wells include eight of the twelve most productive wells in the area closest to the river, the outlet reported, and finding another suitable well location in town may be rather difficult. The town official said they met with a hydraulicist the previous Friday and that a water-system report could be presented at the next council meeting, which is scheduled for the following week. The council has requested a hydraulic study, and members say they still need that promised analysis before they can fully assess the situation — a study that would determine whether enough water is actually available.
An 1880s Agreement Faces Fresh Scrutiny
Westerly supplies water across the river to Pawcatuck, Connecticut, a village within the town of Stonington, under an agreement dating to the 19th century that governs how that water is delivered. Council member Rose Van Dover questioned whether the agreement covers Stonington broadly or only the village of Pawcatuck itself, per the same report. She said the agreement refers specifically to supplying water to the village of Pawcatuck, that it does not mention the town of Stonington by name, and that the Pawcatuck village map does not appear to reach Route 2.
The water-agreement standard was set in 1880, and both Rhode Island and Connecticut later codified it. A resident at the meeting countered that the agreement remains binding regardless of the boundary debate, and asked whether Stonington could compel Westerly to install a new well under its terms. Another resident noted that the distribution system’s output depends on pipe size and how much water can actually move through the network, an unresolved technical question the hydraulic study is meant to address.
Council member Alexandra Healy said the 1800s-era agreement is not working right now and suggested updating it into 2026-appropriate wording with properly defined district lines. The council ultimately agreed to place the boundary question on an upcoming agenda, and the water agreement item is listed for the next council meeting alongside the anticipated system report.
Who Pays for Westerly’s Growing Pains
Council member Dylan LaPietra said new housing is starting to cost the town money, since the town may need a new well to keep up with demand. He proposed some sort of extra tax or charge tied to the number of new developments coming online, though he acknowledged the idea would likely fall to the next council to decide. Under Westerly’s land-development and subdivision regulations, developers are already required to pay for improvements mandated by the Planning Board and shown on approved final plans, according to the town’s code published on ecode360.com; those standards cover rights-of-way, utilities, drainage, fire protection and other infrastructure.
The Westerly Planning Board has authority to act for the town on land-development matters, and the town council must approve any water service extended outside Westerly, while the Westerly Utilities Department approves developers’ individual water-service requests. Connecticut-side water lines require approval before they can be extended, the report noted. No Stonington-based projects have come before the Westerly Planning Board so far, according to Uprise RI’s reporting, even as officials debate how the existing agreement would apply if one did.
A Wider Rhode Island Water Squeeze
Westerly’s predicament is playing out against a broader strain on rural water supplies statewide. Rhode Island issued its first drought-watch advisory since 2002 after the state received more than a foot less precipitation than expected over the prior 12 months, according to ecoRI News. About 30 percent of Rhode Island residents, including people in two-thirds of the state’s municipalities, rely primarily on groundwater for drinking water, the outlet reported, and the Pawcatuck sole-source aquifer underlying much of the region covers most of Westerly along with parts of several neighboring towns.
State Rep. Megan Cotter has formed an 11-member commission to study how new housing is affecting rural Rhode Island water supplies, with the group holding its first meeting on September 16 and planning to spend nine months investigating the issue. Westerly’s own water-supply planning documents, filed with the state, note that roughly 6 percent of the town still depends on private wells, mostly in homes remote from the town system, according to a report archived by westerlyri.gov.
The town’s water-system planning materials filed with the state also indicate that Westerly does not currently plan to build a formal interconnection or new agreement between the Westerly and Pawcatuck utilities, though such a project would need to move quickly to function as a viable emergency water source if ever pursued, per the water.ri.gov filing. For now, the questions raised Monday — over capacity, cost and the reach of a 146-year-old handshake across the Pawcatuck River — remain unresolved heading into next week’s council meeting.
