NLWC News

NLWC Appeals Surfside Crossing to Protect Critical Water Resources

May 20, 2026

Once again, Nantucket Land and Water Council (NLWC) has filed an appeal in Superior Court of the latest decision of the Housing Appeals Committee (HAC) about the controversial Surfside Crossing c. 40B project on South Shore Road. This is the third such appeal after two prior successful cases in which the Court ruled in favor of NLWC. Both the Town of Nantucket’s Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) and Tipping Point residents group have also filed appeals of the same HAC decision. 


“The NLWC appreciates the need for affordable and attainable housing on Nantucket, and recognizes the level of effort and the significant progress being made by the Town. We also know that the protection of our water resources, particularly our drinking water, is critical to the health of our community.” Emily Molden, Executive Director said about the NLWC’s move to appeal. “Creating much-needed housing on the island does not need to come at the expense of clean water. We can do this differently, but all parties need to be willing to work towards a solution”.

The now clearcut Surfside Crossing Development

Last Spring, the ZBA denied a comprehensive permit for the revised Surfside project because “the stormwater management system, as proposed, poses undue risk of harm to the Town’s public water supply.” (Apr. 14, 2025 ZBA Decision, p. 7, ¶ 11) That decision was based on input from NLWC’s experts at the public hearing who asserted  that the project would render more than half the 13.6 acre site impervious (52%). State and local regulations limit impervious coverage to just 15% in the Zone II wellhead protection area and Public Wellhead Recharge Overlay District in order to protect groundwater quality that feeds the public water supply wells.


If the developers were to stay within  the 15% coverage limit in the protected wellhead area, two acres of the site could still be built on. But the Developer wants 3.5 times that amount, yet submitted nothing in their proposal to show how its stormwater system would protect the integrity of the Town’s groundwater quality. To the contrary, the ZBA and NLWC engineers determined that the stormwater system does not comply with even basic standards. All efforts by the ZBA to address these issues during the public hearings were rejected by the Developers with no willingness to engage. Despite the developer's inflexibility, and the evidence before them, HAC reversed the ZBA decision and ordered a comprehensive permit to be issued.


As a sole source aquifer, Nantucket’s Zone II wellhead protection area is regulated by federal, state and local regulations to protect the potability of the Island’s public water supply. Nantucket withdraws water from the aquifer under a Water Management Act Permit, last renewed in 2021. That permit depends on compliance with the stormwater regulations that HAC purported to waive. If carried out, such a violation of those regulations would jeopardize the integrity of the Town’s permit to withdraw groundwater, and threaten to degrade the groundwater quality of the aquifer. 


The developers proceeded to work, at risk, and the stormwater system was installed at the Surfside Crossing site without first receiving a water quality permit. As currently designed and installed, the system does not comply with local, state or federal regulatory standards. For example, the bylaw requires at least 95% of the precipitation that falls on the site to be recharged into the groundwater. Currently, under existing conditions, all of the rainwater is recharged. If constructed with the current stormwater system, even the Developer’s engineer admits the required 95% recharge requirement would not be met. HAC excused Developer from complying with this bylaw, yet never mentioned that the reason it did so is because the stormwater system has already been installed and buried underground. NLWC looks forward to addressing these issues in Court to protect the groundwater that supplies the public drinking water wells.

 

A copy of NLWC’s appeal Complaint filed on May 14, 2026 is enclosed here.

NLWC Launches PFAS Well Testing Reimbursement Program

October 29, 2026
The NLWC is pleased to announce the launch of our PFAS Well Testing Reimbursement Program , an initiative aimed at reducing financial barriers to drinking water testing and improving accessibility to informed drinking water decisions. Made possible by the Nantucket Land & Water Council’s Water Fund, with generous support from ReMain Nantucket and the Madaket Conservation Association . PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are a group of widely used synthetic chemicals found in many everyday products. Often referred to as "forever chemicals" because of their persistence in the environment, PFAS can enter groundwater and contaminate drinking water supplies . Long-term exposure to certain PFAS has been linked to a range of adverse health effects. For Nantucket residents who rely on private wells, testing is the only way to know whether PFAS are present in their drinking water . The Town of Nantucket Health and Human Services Department offers PFAS well testing through Barnstable County Laboratory, with test kits available at 131 Pleasant Street.

MassDEP Casts Doubt on 'Sconset Beach Geotube Expansion

September 10, 2026
On August 31st, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued a letter rebuking the efforts of Siasconset Beach Preservation Fund (SBPF) to expand the geotube project on Sconset Beach . Nantucket Land & Water Council (NLWC) along with over a dozen Nantucket residents, including members of the Nantucket Coastal Conservancy (collectively “Appellants”), appealed the Conservation Commission’s March 2025 approval of an Order of Conditions for the geotube expansion. Now seventeen months later, DEP’s letter dated August 31, 2026, casts grave doubt on whether the expansion project will be approved by the state agency . T his setback follows the denial of a license for the project at Town Meeting last spring.

Letter from the Nantucket Waterkeeper

September 1, 2026
To the Editor,  This letter is about the water situation on the island. As the Nantucket Waterkeeper, I measure the water levels in our aquifer every month (a half-century tradition of the Nantucket Land & Water Council) at ten wells across the island from ’Sconset to Madaket. These wells are simply metal or pvc pipes installed just far enough below the surface to reach and measure the ups and downs of our aquifer. This data is used by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and Mass Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). It's also available to the public on USGS’s website- The exact well used to determine if we’re in a drought or not is well #228 . You’ll notice that it continues to trend downward. With the exception of two very shallow wells in Madaket which have shown some recovery from recent rain, the other seven wells across the island continue to trend downward.
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