What amazes most people flying into the T.F. Green airport in Warwick Rhode Island (yes it says Providence on your ticket but it’s not) is how blue the state is. From the air you can see the jagged coast line with numerous islands, the rivers and tributaries that dump into the sea, and the estuaries, ponds, lakes and rivers that riddle the land. From the air one expansive body of water stands out among the others.
Rolling through dense pine forest and dropping down hundreds of feet through a series of dams is the Scituate Reservoir. Holding 39 billion gallons of water and having a surface area of 3.5 miles it is the largest body of fresh water in the state. Over 60% of the state’s population relies on this reservoir. Ironically, Scituate residents have wells.
Despite its reputation, Scituate is not a small town. On the contrary, it’s rather large as towns go, containing three separate villages, each with their own zip code. That’s down from over a dozen when the Providence Water Supply took over thousands of acres submerging 1/3 of the town and dividing the remainder.
In 1915 the general assembly of Rhode Island ratified a plan to take 14,800 acres, 38% of Scituate’s total mass, by eminent domain to create the reservoir. Condemned to a watery grave were over 1,500 buildings including schools, churches, mills and houses. Along with post offices, an electric railway, and two major rail systems the villages of Kent, Richmond, Rockland, South Scituate, Ashland, Saundersville, Ponaganset and chunks of North Scituate and Clayville disappeared under the water. Evidence of their existence can be seen in stone walls and foundations standing ever vigilant over the woods that have invaded. During extremely hot summers remnants of foundations rise like brick ghosts out of the evaporating expanses of water. Sluice ways and dams of the old mills hidden in the now forbidden wood still move water through the town and into the treatment facility in Hope. Considered a technological marvel of its time, the water treatment plant is still the largest of its kind in New England.
In one deft motion the main reservoir was created and the village of Kent was annihilated. At the site of Kent Village, the Pawtuxet River was barricaded with a swath of earth 3,200 feet long and 100 feet high. In homage to the loss of the village, and despite a monument dedicating the site to former Providence mayor Joseph H Gainer, residents still refer to this as Kent Dam. It is easily one of the most scenic places in the entire town and on any given evening you can find people stopped along the roadside enjoying the breath taking views at sunset.
No matter where you go in Scituate there is water. Every major through way of the town crosses some part of the reservoir. Spectacular stonewalls and dense thickets wind along side the roads until the vista suddenly opens up to reveal sky, hills, and water stretching out on either or both sides as far as the eye can see. On several roads you will be treated to frothing waterfalls as they gush forth from rocky hill sides carved by glaciers.
The watershed for this behemoth is over 94 square miles and includes not only land in Scituate but parts of Johnston, Foster, Glocester, and Cranston. While pedestrian and motor vehicle travel around town is dictated and even restricted by the protection of these areas they also provide a place for wildlife to take hold and flourish. Without the possibility of encroachment by building and population many species have done just that. To date we have been graced with viewing a thirty-pound skunk, a beaver, along with dozens of white tail deer. Also, we have witnessed multitudes of foxes (red and silver), the occasional raccoon, red and grey squirrels, an otter, and several coyotes. There have been reports of a black bear, which was later collared and tracked, and a lynx. Rumor has it that even the elusive wolf is making a comeback in the area. Sightings of fisher cats are on the rise as they find a strong hold in the vast red pine Forest surrounding the reservoir.
Birds also find this habitat a welcome relief from the urbanized landscape that is fast taking over the state. Canadian geese, various types of duck, and even a bald eagle have taken up permanent residence. Red tail hawks can be seen as they gyre on air currents ever on the look out for any of a dozen types of rodent that have made the abandoned walls and foundations their homes. Without the interference of man or the competition for food these species have found a haven in which their populations can regain some of the ground lost to human prosperity. From the tiniest ruby throated humming birds all the way up to the wild turkeys that have been reintroduced to the area in recent years many birds rejoice in this man made sanctuary. A male turkey in full regalia with his harem of hens is a sight to behold. Grosbeaks, crossbills, towhees and flycatchers, drawn by the activity, flock to backyard feeders. Scarlet tanagers, eastern blue birds and orioles display colors that could only occur in nature as they flit by on their way to more secluded areas. At night the repetitive lullaby of a whippoorwill drones on as the bats emerge and engage in an aerial assault around the scattered porch lights.
This red pine was not a mistake. What used to be a vast deciduous forest with massive oak trees, several types of maple, and paper birch groves was leveled during the formation of the reservoir. The initial school of thought was that the hardwood trees would drop leaves into the water, which would cause contamination. An apparent solution at the time was to replant with red pine, which would later be harvested for telephone poles. While the benefits of the first harvest of telephone poles were seen only two years ago as large tracts on the main fire lanes were clear cut, the acidity created by the pine needles decaying in the water has been a downfall of the project for quite some time. A less talked about and possibly less acknowledged problem is erosion. Every drop of water that falls here makes its way down hill to the reservoir basins. Having a shallower root system than the hardwoods they replaced the pines are easily undermined. One only need look out the window as you drive along to see the exposed roots and dying trees where the rainwaters gush down carrying the topsoil away with them.
A topic never discussed but most likely at the top of the catastrophe scale would be fire. Lookout towers are set up at regular intervals, the existing fire lanes are impeccably maintained, and the local volunteer fire departments are well schooled in what to do. The problem is an 80-year buildup of pine needles blanketing the entire 94 square miles of watershed. One unlucky lightning strike has the capacity to devastate the area. The depth of the debris combined with the sheer size of the forest and the limited access are heir marks for disaster.
With the condemnation of the towns major buildings and the seizure of it’s most fertile and productive lands the reservoir took what was an expansive milling and agricultural town with it’s own sustaining economic system and doomed it to become a sleepy hamlet lacking the means to support itself. In the years following the construction of the reservoir the towns population declined by 24%. Not to be pushed out the residents found their way to other means of economic support and the town has become an enclave of people working in the city by day and retreating back to the land and homes their families have held for generations at dusk. The loss of it’s own economy was subsidized by the taxes collected on the lands of the reservoir the major result of which is a highly ranked school system. Unfortunately all that may change in the near future as the Water Supply Board has decided to go to court demanding a much lower tax rate on their holdings. Town officials promise to battle them to the Supreme Court if necessary or create a tax rate specific to this type of land usage. To date there is no precedent for a watershed tax. The old flag of a rattle snake with the caption ‘don’t tread on me’ flew over the town of Scituate during the revolution and may again as the town prepares to battle another attempt of the Providence Water Supply to drown it for good.
