The Rhode Island Water Resources Board and the Rhode Island Water Resources Board Corporate are established by Chapter §46-15 of the General Laws of the State of Rhode Island. The General Assembly recognized that Rhode Island's water resources are among the state's most valuable-if not the most valuable-of all its natural resources. Together, these two agencies of government support the proper development, protection, conservation and use of the state's water resources while providing for economic development and protection for the environment.

Water Supply System Management Plans (WSSMP)

WSSMPs are prepared by water suppliers that produce over fifty million gallons of water per year. These plans contain historical and current data on twenty-nine systems including source water, infrastructure, production data such as safe yield, volume of water withdrawn, water use by category, water quality, supply management and demand management. MORE INFO

The Water Facilities Assistance Program

This program is a model of cooperation between state government and local water suppliers.

Since 1983, the Water Resources Board has administered a grant program to finance up to 50% of design and construction costs for new public water supply facilities.  Funding for this program is provided through periodic general obligation bonds passed by statewide voter referendum.

To date, over twenty major system improvements benefiting fourteen water districts have been funded. The program allowed construction of the Bristol County Water Authority (BCWA) interconnection to the Providence and East Providence water systems, relieving the historically troublesome supply problems for Barrington, Bristol and Warren.

The Water Resources Board continues to work with BCWA regarding rehabilitation of aging supply, transmission, and treatment facilities. MORE INFO

Water Allocation/Water Management Program

In 1999, the RI General Assembly granted the agency sole authority to devise a fair and equitable allocation of water resources among users and uses to ensure that long-range considerations of water supply prevail over short-term considerations.

Towards this end, the Board has initiated a collaborative water allocation program development process, watershed studies, hydrologic modeling efforts, drought planning and management, and further work to develop a water supply in the Big River Management Area. MORE INFO