South Kingstown council hears data on water ban, usage peaks and well‑field options

South Kingstown officials told the Town Council on Sept. 8 that the town’s South Shore water system faced high summer demand from outdoor irrigation and that short-term remedies will focus on consumption controls, enforcement and potential ordinance changes rather than rapid new supply.

Rich Bourbonnais, South Kingstown’s director of public services, and Chris Jacobs of Veolia Water gave a data-driven briefing after the council placed a residents’ letter about water infrastructure on the agenda.

Key figures and findings

Bourbonnais summarized meter and usage data showing winter baseline monthly use in the South Shore service area near 4.4 million gallons in March and a summer monthly peak near 18 million gallons in July. He said peak daily flows in summer reached well above the system’s design expectations — creating days when tanks could not be fully refilled overnight.

Bourbonnais and Veolia staff used meter-level examples to show that a small number of properties can account for a disproportionate share of summer demand: one property used about 173,000 gallons in a single month and had single‑day flows in the 5,000–6,300 gallon range. Staff said that level of irrigation is consistent with watering microclimates a half‑inch to an inch per day — far above normal irrigation guidance (roughly 1 inch per week).

“We could not fill our tanks in the evening when normally we’d fill them,” Bourbonnais said, describing the system’s inability to recover capacity during peak periods.

Why the wells are not an immediate fix

Council and staff discussed options to bring the Green Hill / Factory Pond well field back into service. Bourbonnais described multiple technical and cost obstacles: the well field will need treatment for iron, manganese and PFAS to meet modern health and water‑quality standards, and past estimates for a comparable project topped several million dollars. He said previous federal and state grant efforts have not yielded the full funding needed and warned that a new treatment plant would also add substantial operating costs that would fall to ratepayers.

“The well field is a resiliency item rather than a short‑term fix,” Bourbonnais said. “It’s going to be expensive and it will not eliminate the need for demand management.”

Immediate and near-term actions discussed

Staff and Veolia described a mix of near-term measures: 1) stronger enforcement and clearer local rules on outdoor watering, 2) upgraded meter queries and automated notifications to detect sustained high use, 3) a public education campaign about irrigation best practices, and 4) outreach to the town solicitor to draft enforceable watering rules and penalties if needed.

Chief Moynihan reported the police department has been involved in notifying residents during the total outdoor water ban and that some violations were addressed through citations; the council’s solicitor later confirmed that a $100 fine exists in ordinance language for violations when a ban is in place.

Metering, detection and targeting

Bourbonnais said the town can query smart-meter data to identify unusually high hourly or daily usage at particular accounts but that staff capacity to run proactive, daily queries is limited. Council members discussed whether the town could automate notices for properties that exceed preset thresholds, add odd/even watering day rules, and target outreach to properties that show sustained high-volume irrigation.

Longer-term strategy and financing

Jacobs of Veolia and Bourbonnais both urged a two-pronged approach: regulate and reduce demand now, and pursue long‑term supply/resiliency projects (e.g., well‑field rehabilitation or regional storage) with state and federal funding. Jacobs noted Veolia’s recent investments in storage tanks and main replacements in the broader service area but cautioned that even large storage tanks cannot substitute for high sustained demand.

Council direction

Council members asked staff to draft enforceable watering language and urged pursuing regional coordination with Narragansett and state agencies on longer‑term groundwater planning. Several members asked the town manager to pursue grant and legislative avenues to fund well-field work and other major infrastructure.