Don Williams, President

I have written to a record number of you this year, thanking you for your generous donations to the Herring Ponds Watershed Association. If truth be told, this is one of my favorite activities as your president because it is both humbling and exhilarating. With your help, we have accomplished so much in the last several years building community, devising a strategy to deal with watershed pollution and the resultant algae and cyanobacteria blooms, sharing valuable information through programs and newsletters, partnering with Plymouth, learning more about how to improve and protect our watershed, and promoting water safety and health.

When you read the Water Quality Committee report, you will learn that we have recently taken a major step forward to reducing the phosphorus pollutants responsible for the often-toxic cyanobacteria blooms. The interim-term solution that should be funded at Fall Town Meeting hopefully will significantly reduce phosphorus in Great Herring Pond. We will certainly look forward to the installation of the Permeable Reactive Barrier (as early as next summer) to reduce anxiety over future blooms.

While the long-term solution to the phosphorus problem involves a sewer system for our area at some future date, it is never to early to look at planning for the future.   

We know that the underground aquifer that provides all of our drinking water and supplies the water for all of Plymouth’s 400 or so ponds flows from the northwest to the southeast. What this means is that the land to the north and west of Great Herring and Little Herring Ponds is more important to protect from pollution since any pollutant entering the ground water or aquifer will eventually find its way into Great Herring Pond.

Fortunately for us, there is a lot of undeveloped land west of Great Herring Pond.  In the past, the Herring Ponds Watershed Association has leveraged donations from all of you by partnering with Plymouth to buy about 100 acres of land (Comassakumkanut, Alper Preserve, and a small tract along Carters Bridge Road). We continue to look for other opportunities to acquire land in the upstream section of the aquifer.

I know that many of you have already donated to our Watershed Association. I ask you to consider donating to our recently established Land Acquisition Fund. It is a good investment in our future because we will be able to:  1) prevent development in that area and reduce watershed pond pollution, 2) partner with Plymouth for land purchase that can significantly leverage our contribution, and 3) preserve our environment by protecting existing forests.

I also know that Plymouth is developing rapidly and that we must be alert for land purchase opportunities and be prepared to make them happen.  It would be great to have a readily available fund to help Plymouth make important purchases.

Your donations can be designated for the Land Acquisition Fund, one of the better ways to protect our ponds now and for future generations.

Thank you for your consideration. Give me a call at 508 833-4355 if you have any questions or just want to talk.