The construction of the Scituate Reservoir disproves the old saying that two wrongs don’t make a right. In fact, it took many wrongs to make a right, though it took many years of rehabilitation and reconstruction for the reservoir to be regarded as beneficial. The reasons for construction were clearly not evil or malicious, but to the Town of Scituate, however, there was a significant price to pay.

The quiet Town of Scituate was abruptly awakened from its peaceful slumber in the early years of the twentieth century.

The Scituate Reservoir was begun in 1915 as a means of supplying the City of Providence with a clean supply of water for residential and industrial use. Heavy industrial growth and a need for adequate fire protection were among the primary reasons the Providence City Council sought more suitable water supplies.

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In 1913, the City of Providence appointed a Water Supply Board to design a solution and, ultimately, find a new source of water for the city. Their investigation of potential sources led to the headwaters of the North Branch of the Pawtuxet River and its two major tributaries, the Moswansicut and Ponaganset rivers. In 1915, the Rhode Island General Assembly created a new Water Supply Board with extensive powers, which cleared the way for construction of the reservoir. The first contract, for the dam and aqueduct, was awarded in 1915; title to the property needed for the reservoir and for allied and adjacent structures to be taken by condemnation was awarded in December 1916; and the first construction contract was granted in January 1917.

By 1921 work was under way. A temporary village was created near Kent to house workers on the project. In 1924, a contract was awarded for construction of the purification works. By 1926, the Scituate Reservoir project, the largest project then undertaken in Rhode Island, was completed. A large earth-filled dam at Kent held back the largest freshwater body in Rhode Island, with a surface area of 5.3 square miles and a capacity of 39 billion gallons of water.

But the creation of the reservoir and the purchase of a large watershed were destructive to Scituate. The reservoir’s waters covered some villages - Ashland, Kent, South Scituate, and Richmond. Rockland was entirely wiped off the map by condemnation; the entire western part of what was North Scituate village was covered by water or destroyed by land taking. Mills at Clayville, Elmdale, Harrisdale and Glenrock were lost, although some of them were long idle and had deteriorated through neglect. Within the 23.1 square miles acquired by Providence were 1,195 buildings - consisting of 375 houses, 233 barns, seven schools, six churches, six mills, 30 dairy farms, 11 ice houses, five halls, post offices, taverns, general stores, blacksmith and wheelwright shops, cider mills, two fire stations, and an electric railway system (the Providence and Danielson Railroad). From an agricultural point of view, more than 25 dairy farms were lost, forever limiting agriculture in town.

A total of 1,485 graves were removed from the immediate reservoir site; 1,080 of them were relocated to the new Rockland Cemetery in Clayville and the rest went to other cemeteries in the area. The reservoir also disrupted the road pattern, requiring the construction of 26.4 miles of new roads and the abandonment of about 36 miles of former roads.

Many people were displaced and moved out of Scituate. During the decade of the 1920s, the population decreased by 24 percent. The Census of 1930 recorded a population of 2,292 inhabitants for Scituate, the lowest number since the 1780s.

After decades of rebuilding, the Town of Scituate today consists of approximately 35,000 acres. About 13,000 acres of town land is owned by the City of Providence. Almost 85 percent of town land, about 29,000 acres, is within the reservoir watershed. That means that about 38 percent of the total town land area is devoted exclusively to the production of water (for about 70 percent of the state's residents). The current reservoir has a shoreline length of 66 miles and is about seven miles long at its maximum length. It has an average depth of 32 feet with a maximum depth of 87 feet. Its maximum width is 2 1/2 miles, and it can yield 92 million gallons per day. At its maximum elevation, it can store 41 billion gallons. The drainage area into the reservoir that includes several towns adjacent to Scituate is approximately 93 square miles or about 59,000 acres. The watershed area of the reservoir is vital in the amount of annual rainfall runoff that flows into the reservoir. About 40 billion gallons of water flows into the reservoir each year.

The production of water is the largest industry in the town. It dominates most land use decisions, and because of its size and placement, the reservoir controls and limits what can and cannot be developed or built in the town. It has made the property tax the primary source of income to support town services. Maintaining the high quality of our water requires constant testing and monitoring. And most importantly the source of that water, the Scituate Reservoir, must be vigorously protected from contamination. Driving through Scituate you can catch a glimpse of the aerators, the treatment facility's most famous feature. It's a beautiful sight, but they're not just there for show. Holding tanks capture sediments that sink to the bottom before the water enters the treatment plant. When the water flows into the plant it is treated with a variety of chemicals. Recent technological improvements ensure that every step in the treatment process is carefully completed.

Today, the area of and around the Scituate Reservoir is still gentle, rural, and not at all touristy; perfect reasons to venture there. Don’t forget your camera, though. You’ll see colorful forests, windy roads and acres of beautifully crafted fieldstone walls. Most would say the reservoir is at its picturesque prime in the fall. The foliage and all of its reflections on the water is postcard material. Even if it’s not autumn, the quiet town is still a sight to see. With its less traveled roads and undisturbed by bustling city life, this is a quiet part of Rhode Island that has maintained and preserved its own natural beauty.

It is easy to forget while driving through the town that thriving villages, pleasant homes and busy farms that once dotted the landscape were completed flooded and now forever gone. Only memories remain of a way of life that had to be sacrificed for the good of so many others.

For more than 75 years, Rhode Islanders have been blessed with an ample supply of affordable, fresh, pure water. But we should never forget that this blessing came with a price. It took lots of sacrifice and hard work to make this miracle a reality.

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