Dear Editor:

The recent front-page article highlighting Bigelow Laboratory’s work with the Boothbay Region Water District presents impressive science focused on water quality. The biological and chemical monitoring described is valuable and reassuring.

What is potentially misleading, however, is the implicit suggestion that this work alone is sufficient to evaluate the health of our drinking-water supply.

The Boothbay reservoirs are a relatively rare system: small, man made, rainfall-limited surface-water sources with little natural buffering. In systems like this, water quantity and hydrology are at least as important as biology and chemistry. Long-term sustainability depends on understanding inflows, withdrawals, storage limits, and drought sensitivity—not just biological indicators.

According to https://www.drought.gov/location/04538, November ranked as the 18th driest on record over the past 131 years, nearly 2 inches below normal. The year to date (January–November 2025) ranks as the 20th driest, with a 5.15-inch precipitation deficit—conditions that directly affect recharge and reservoir resilience and quality.

Recent reporting on Pratt’s Island underscores this geologic point. There, residents have raised concerns about losing freshwater wells to saltwater intrusion and have called for hydrologic studies before further disturbance occurs. The concern is not water quality, but water availability and system limits—recognition that fragile, rainfall-dependent systems can fail quietly if quantity is ignored.

This is not a criticism of Bigelow Laboratory’s work, but a concern about scope and scientific transparency. When a hydrologically constrained resource is evaluated primarily by biologists and chemists, the public risks receiving an incomplete picture.

If Boothbay truly wants to avoid surprises, water-quality monitoring must be paired with a transparent, science-based water-quantity assessment, including drought thresholds and evaluation of alternative supply options. Clean water matters—but only if there is enough of it.

Andy Cozzi

Retired hydrogeologist

Boothbay