Recent actions to promote high-density and expanded residential and commercial development in Truro have not only met with community opposition – they have met up with an irrefutable limitation – WATER. Simply put, there is not enough water to sustain the housing allowable on Walsh nor the increased density of proposed overlay districts AND to meet the water needs of Provincetown’s rapid and large-scale housing expansion. Elaine Beilin, environmental commentator (and TPRTA Board Member) presented a smart, easy-to-read analysis in Truro News this month: The Walsh Question: Can Truro Build Without Risking Its Water?
This is exacerbated by the contrasting views between Truro and Provincetown that have come to a head recently and put Walsh in jeopardy in whole or in part.
A recent article in the Provincetown Independent – Sharp Divide Emerges Over New Truro Well Sites – captures the essential dispute. It is serious. As the P’town Select Board Chair said – the discussions with Truro have gone “sideways.” This appears to have become critical due to a “special edition” of Truro Talks released by the Truro Select Board on December 19 (dated Dec 16th) in which Truro basically dismissed P’town’s concerns and authorities. The P’town DPW Director described this letter as containing “a number of inaccuracies and misleading statements.” Ouch.
At the same time, community members have flagged many concerns about water – they have smartly challenged the analysis of a report by Stantec on the need for (and location of) a water tower; the legitimacy of the ZTF’s assertion that its proposed overlays – including Walsh and two new ones – do not require it to consider water (or traffic) as that is “beyond its purview” ; have begun to question what has not been disclosed about costs and other impacts that since WOD was approved, are now seemingly very high costs for wastewater treatment, new wells at locations still in dispute between the towns (and between Truro and USA, which owns C-5, though Truro claims otherwise), a potential water tower that no one really needs, priced at $16M.
And then the State-driven effort to reduce nitrogen by 25% in Truro’s watersheds takes Truro in the opposite direction of high-density development – that is, to move swiftly to reduce density, water demand, and wastewater effluence.
Apart from the inherent environmental, legal and factual differences, this suggests a lack of coordinated planning among and between committees in Truro, certainly with respect to aggressive development and limited water resources, with irreparable consequences. A Letter to the Editor of the Independent from a Truro full-timer makes this clear:
“…the Walsh property is one of the only viable high-yield sites left in the Pamet Lens. You can move a housing project, but you cannot move a groundwater lens. By building high-density housing directly over a primary water source, we risk a permanent regional loss of a finite resource. ” M. Forgione (1/23/26)
Water First has become more than an aspiration – it now increasingly has become a community necessity and demand.