The Block Island Water and Sewer Commissions approved a new water allocation for Salt Pond Settlement despite having denied at least three allocation applications from commercial water users last month.The Water Company has exceedingly little water left to allocate for the months of July and August, and Water Superintendent John Breunig, instead of approving or denying new applications himself, is sending all requests to the board for approval.The difference this time is that the water requested is for fire suppression, not normal consumption. Breunig said it was the first application for a fire suppression system since they “became aware” of how little water was available, and he didn’t want to deny it. In the summer, fighting a fire could take much more water than what would be used by the suppression system.
“I think it’s a no-brainer,” said Sewer Commission Chair Pete McNerney.
“If a fire becomes fully involved, it becomes a totally different situation in my world,” said Breunig.
Looking ahead to summer
Starting this past summer, Breunig began looking at the island’s water situation differently. The Water Company has traditionally based its calculations of available water on a customer’s use over a three-month period from July
