The present North Sterling Aquifer Protection Zone Overlay Map– https://www.sterling-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1266/f/file/file/part15.pdf — corresponds exactly with the Massachusetts DEP Zone II Wellhead Protection Map for that area– http://maps.massgis.state.ma.us/images/dep/omv/wspviewer.htm Click on the ‘hand’ symbol, move that map on your screen, then ‘zoom’ into Pratt Junction to see the area cross-hatched in lavender/purple.
The latest U.S. Geological Survey Surficial Materials (Geology) Mapping for Massachusetts was published in 2018. It is available from the Massachusetts Geological Survey– http://mgs.geo.umass.edu/ Here is the “Index” Map with the “Legend”– https://pubs.usgs.gov/sim/3402/sim3402_index_map.pdf The deposits color-coded light orange– “Coarse deposits” and “Stagnant-ice deposits” –are the types normally associated with aquifers. Here are the 2018 corresponding Sterling and Clinton Quadrangle Surficial Materials maps– https://pubs.usgs.gov/sim/3402/sim3402_quadrangle/079_Sterling.pdf and
https://pubs.usgs.gov/sim/3402/sim3402_quadrangle/085_Clinton.pdf Put them side-by-side and you can see that they more than support the North Sterling Aquifer Protection Zone areal extent protected presently.
NOW look at 2021 Sterling Annual Town Meeting Warrant Article 46 with proposed reduced-in-size North Sterling/Wekepeke Aquifer Protection Zone/Groundwater Protection Districts Overlay Map– https://www.sterling-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1266/f/uploads/2021_6_14_atm_sterling_warrant_0.pdf THAT map is based on the 44-year-old 1977 map drawn by Brackley and Hanson purporting to show only the areas “expected from properly constructed wells” [emphasis added] to produce 100-300 gallons per minute and 300+ gallons per minute, NOT the full extent of the North Sterling/Wekepeke Aquifer protected now.
AT THE ANNUAL TOWN MEETING VOTE DOWN ARTICLE 46.
J.G.
STERLING, MASSACHUSETTS, OVERWATCH 