It's good that someone thinks about region's water

As members of the editorial staff interviewed candidates in the run-up to local elections last November, we repeatedly heard concerns about an issue that most of us give little thought about - assuring the availability of drinkable water.

Really? Having enough water is a concern in southeastern Connecticut? People might expect to find water as a policy issue in Texas and other western states, not southern New England. After all, the state just had enough rainfall in 2011 to break records going back more than a century.

The fact is that while the region has plenty of water, projections suggest it will not have enough drinking water to meet growing long-term demand if communities do not tap new sources. While no one is predicting dried bones littering a parched landscape, failing to meet water demand can have serious implications for the ability of the region to grow economically, support manufacturing and maintain the water quality people have come to expect.

In an accompanying commentary today, Chris Clark, operations manager for the Mohegan Tribal Authority, writes about the cooperative efforts underway to make sure the planning is in place to assure that does not happen. Clark, some may recall, played a critical role in the negotiations and planning that led to the Mohegan tribe financing a water transmission line under the Thames River.

That project completed in 2006 for the first time interconnected the major water utility on the east side of the river, Groton Utilities, with the two largest utilities on the west side - City of New London Public Utilities and Norwich Public Utilities. This provided for a more redundant regional water supply system, providing back-up capacity in times of drought or other emergency, and an improved ability to get water where needed.

But it did not solve all the problems, and as Clark outlines in his commentary, the utilities and local planners have been quietly assessing where new potable water sources can be found - largely, and perhaps exclusively, underground - and what new transmission lines and interconnections will be necessary.

Things will not be so quiet, however, when it comes time to seek approval for new water lines and the drilling of wells to access aquifers. Regulations for drinking water quality are stringent. New state environmental laws, intended to prevent the massive amounts of water drawn from acquifers from dangerously reducing the volume of water flows in streams and brooks, will add to the challenge. Building water transmission lines is costly and sometimes controversial.

But while we all take for granted that safe water will flow when we turn on our faucets, it's comforting to know someone is working to assure that will continue to be the case.

Paul Choiniere is editorial page editor.