Water as a resource

To the Editor:

Everyone should know the importance of protecting our natural resources. As educated people from Rhode Island, you should all know about the Scituate Reservoir and Providence Water Supply, the largest water treatment facility in New England.

To construct the Scituate Reservoir, 1,195 buildings were torn down and hundreds of people lost homes, jobs, businesses and farmland back in the early 1900s. All this was done by Providence Water to make sure we have a well-protected healthy supply of water.

Obviously, back in the day no one imagined a municipality would jump into an unenforceable non-binding legal contract, in a manner violating the RI Open Meetings Act, to mark up and resell Providence wholesale water to a pollutant monster that 24 Rhode Island cities and towns have opposed.

I know Mayor Polisena and some members of the Town Council do not care about people’s health; that was obvious when they would not investigate why I had sewer water pouring into my home, but we were just one home. The water supply for 60 percent of the state population is another story all together.

I wonder if anyone considered or checked into the history of what could happen when you sell your water or water rights. Just one story that strikes me is Crowley County, Colorado, where the owners of lush farmland sold their water rights to make money as they retired from farming. The people they sold to did not follow the sale contract and now the land will not sustain life. That is why people out west say, “Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting over,” and big business can’t be trusted.

Invenergy Service LLC over the last 15 months has submitted incomplete applications with constant changes to their plan raising more questions than answers. Johnston climbing in bed with them makes our town look terrible and lawyers rich.

Jean Lynch

Johnston

Editor’s note: A spokeswoman for the Attorney General said that more than 10 complaints have been received claiming that the recent council meeting was in violation of state and municipal regulations. Those complaints are under review and no action has been taken as of press time Wednesday.