On one of our field trips this week, Mark Willett an engineer for the Wannacomet Water Company, took us on a tour of Nantucket’s newest water tower, which holds 2 million gallons of fresh water that is tapped from Nantucket’s very own pristine aquifer.  Ones of the issues that the island is having is maintaining the aquifer free of pollutants from runoff and septic tank intrusions, so Mark and his team are trying to constantly to monitor the quality of the water.  Another issue that takes place on the island is the influx of tourist during the summer months, which has a huge impact on the water table, and its ability to get recharged.  The aquifers sole source of recharge is rainfall, and the large flock of tourist during the summer months takes a huge toll on the water level of this aquifer.  It was interesting to see inside this tower, i always thought it was full of water on the inside, yet we found out that the cylindrical portion of the tower is hollow, and the electronics and actual pipes are accessible, and Mark even treated us to a fresh cup of water directly pumped from the aquifer…………crisp and clean!!!!!

Here are some pics that I took, various people featured are Timchi Khamdi, Sarah Jacobs, Sophia Bass-Warner, Amelianoaire Atwood, Dr. Frankic, Dr. Douglas, and Jeremy Raynor……….hope y’all enjoy!