The watershed area of the reservoir is paramount in the amount of annual rainfall runoff that flows into the reservoir. About 40 billion gallons of water flows into the reservoir each year. The production of water is the largest industry in the town. It dominates most land use decisions, and because of its size and placement, the reservoir controls and limits what can and cannot be developed or built in the town. TOP Why Preserve Land in Scituate Land for parks, productive farmland, land that supports wildlife, and land that holds and cleanses our drinking water is disappearing.
Open spaces are important to our heritage and environment, and are under pressure for development.
As a society, we have aggressively promoted development outside of our cities. With the current pattern of development, it means that within the next 100 years, there will be no rural towns left in Rhode Island. Scituate residents need only to look to the east and the south to see its future unless we maintain a constant vigil and act when the opportunity presents itself. While not all undeveloped land can and should be protected, it is undeniable that protecting appropriate open space land is a fiscally prudent option for our town. A recent study of community services in Rhode Island found that town services demanded and used by new residential development cost more than the tax revenue generated by that type of development.