SOUTH DEERFIELD — South Deerfield Water Supply District has received a $50,000 state grant to preserve land in the regional watershed.
“These 2017 Drinking Water Supply Protection Grants will deliver the necessary financial resources to allow water suppliers to continue to distribute high quality water to the public,” said Gov. Charlie Baker in a press release Wednesday, following an announcement of nearly $900,000 in grants to five water suppliers as part of the Drinking Water Supply Protection Grant Program (DWSP).
Locally, the money will be used “to preserve 15 acres of zone-b land within the Conway and Whately Glen reservoirs’ watershed,” the statement continues.
Preserving land “will enable water suppliers to protect existing or new wells and surface drinking water supply systems, such as reservoirs and other water bodies,” the statement notes.
The grant program, administered by the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) Division of Conservation Services, has awarded grants since 2004. Grant money must be “used for water supply protection and land conservation purposes, such as the acquisition of land, the placing of a conservation restriction, or the assignment of a watershed preservation restriction,” it continues.
Both the Conway and Whately reservoirs are part of the South Deerfield Water Supply District. A recent report from the state Department of Environmental Protection explains water collects in “the Conway Reservoir, the main storage reservoir,” flows into “the Whately Glen Reservoir, a small distribution reservoir located in Whately.” Water is then “treated through a rapid sand filtration system” and directed on to houses throughout the region.