WATER USE AND AVAILABILTY ON BLOCK ISLAND, RI

In an effort to manage the increasingly limited surface-water and ground-water resources of the state, the Rhode Island Water Resources Board (RIWRB) is compiling detailed, up-to-date information on the water-use and water availability for the Town of New Shoreham on Block Island, RI to be included within a statewide water-resources database. An estimated 75,700,000 gallons of water were withdrawn from Block Island in the year 2000, 2.91% of the 2.6 billion gallons hypothetically available for withdrawals based on ground-water recharge calculations.

The Block Island Water Company (BIWC) is responsible for nearly 23% of island-wide withdrawals, approximately 17,200,000 gallons in the year 2000. Hotel withdrawals accounted for 4,800,000 gallons, while other commercial (non-hotel) customers used 4,700,000 gallons. Over 3,400,000 gal/year was delivered to residential customers and the Town of New Shoreham withdrew over 700,000 gal/year for municipal water-use. Surprisingly, over 3.4 million gallons was unaccounted for by the BIWC. Self-supplied water users were responsible for the remaining 77% of island-wide withdrawals. An estimated 47,800,000 gal/year were withdrawn by self-supplied residential water-users, while nearly 10.7 million gallons were withdrawn by self-supplied hotels (determined using metered sewer rates and per guest per day water-use estimates).

Significant reductions in both per household and per capita water-use were noted, the former decreasing from 266 to 180 gal/day and the latter from 65 to 55 gal/day. The study results clearly illustrate seasonal population fluctuations within this community. Ground-water withdrawals in the third fiscal quarter (July, August, September) account for over 49% of the yearly water-use, with hotel withdrawals responsible for nearly 25% of this total.