The Town Spring in Harrisville is a local treasure. Many local folks rely on the spring as a source of fresh drinking water. It produces 20 gallons-per-minute of clear, fresh water, and apparently has done so for the past 150 years. The current spring output on Skatutakee Road is located at the same site as the water tanks that supplied the railroad steam engines in the 1800’s and early part of this century. [Please note: the spring is not maintained or overseen by the Town, and water quality is not assured.]
Our 2013 Natural Resource Inventory underscored the importance of this public water supply to the people of Harrisville. Since this past summer, the Conservation Commission has been gathering information about the source waters of this spring. Some of the more important findings are that this spring is served by an “overburden aquifer”, i.e., glacial deposits of sand and gravel that extend south from the spring all the way up the flank of Beech Hill. Unlike typical “stratified drift” aquifers, the Town Spring aquifer does not have a protective layer of impermeable clay above the sand and gravel layers. Instead, the 20’ to 100′ deep sands and gravels of this “overburden aquifer” are exposed directly to the surface. This may render the Town Spring aquifer more vulnerable to surface pollution that may arise from development.
The Conservation Commission is exploring ways to protect the Town Spring aquifer, which covers a substantial area on both sides of the Dublin Road and up the flank of Beech Hill. We commissioned an engineering firm (Nobis Engineering) to provide a detailed map that outlines the aquifer (blue line) and the vital recharge areas that most directly feed the town spring’s waters (red line).
