EASTHAMPTON — With one grant denied to help protect an important water source for Easthampton and Southampton, the two municipalities are trying again.
Easthampton and Southampton will seek an alternate grant to acquire 25 acres of land above the Barnes Aquifer after the Local Acquisitions for Natural Diversity (LAND) grant of $400,000 was denied earlier this month.
Southampton has now applied for Drinking Water Supply Protection grant of $350,000 to protect the land from development of as many as 14 lots. The application was submitted on Dec. 5 and decision will announced in early spring, according to Mark Wamsley of Kestrel Land Trust who has been working on the project.
The grant will make up one third of the $1 million needed to buy the 25 acres straddling both communities near Cook and County roads. On Nov. 16, Easthampton City Council approved spending $343,762 in Community Preservation Act funds, and Southampton at a Town Meeting in May voted to contribute $386,862 of its own CPA funds.
If the grant is successful, the property will likely be acquired and protected in mid-2017. Southampton would own the land and Easthampton would obtain a conservation restriction to protect it from development. If the grant is not received, the project will end and the CPA funds appropriated for the project will not be spent.
The Barnes Aquifer extends about 12 miles beneath portions of Westfield, Holyoke, Southampton and Easthampton. More than 60,000 people depend on the aquifer for drinking water and it is the sole source of water for Easthampton’s public wells.
Caitlin Ashworth can be reached at cashworth@gazettenet.com.