This past May, the Buzzards Bay Coalition acquired 33 acres of land in the Mattapoisett River Valley. The plot at 84 New Bedford Road, Rochester sits off the intersection of Cushman Road and Perry Hill Road and stretches inland near Branch Brook and is neighbor to the Mattapoisett Land Trust’s Mattapoisett River Wildlife Management Area. According to Buzzards Bay Coalition Communications Director Scott Lajoie, this land is near several town wells, including 3,000 feet from Marion Town Well #5.
Not far south of the acquired land is another Marion well, located on Tinkham Lane. On June 12, the Town of Marion put out a warning stating, “On 06/11/2025, we were notified by the Town of Fairhaven that a fecal indicator (E. coli) was detected in a raw water (untreated) sample collected on 06/10/2025 from the Tinkham lane Well.” Following this, five extra samples were tested with none containing E. Coli. bacteria. The town added, “This is not an emergency; you do not need to boil your water or take other corrective actions.”
Though there is no emergency, it does highlight the fragility of Marion, Mattapoisett and Rochester’s water supplies.
Following the purchase of the New Bedford Road plot, the coalition assisted in the approval of a state grant for $350,000, allowing Marion to purchase a Conservation Restriction on the land. This prevents development of the land, disturbing and endangering the water supply of surrounding aquifers.
Buzzards Bay Coalition recently acquired 436 acres in Dartmouth’s Paskamansett River Valley for similar initiatives. In the past weeks, it has also finalized the purchase of 1,652 acres on the border of Rochester and Middleboro for natural conservation.
For an interactive and detailed map of all registered wells in the state of Massachusetts, you can view the Massachusetts Well Location Viewer by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection at: www.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?webmap=660e5b4cb7af4f4e932c9d5a7b7e82f2.
By Sam Bishop