Tell Legislature To Protect Drinking Water From Too Dense Housing
Let the Rhode Island Legislature know that you support Representative Megan Cotter’s bill to protect our environment and natural resources. This bill would give local communities greater control over the density of housing developments built on public drinking water supply watersheds and groundwater so clean it is classified as suitable for drinking without treatment.
In Charlestown, all homes depend on wells and septic systems. To protect our drinking water and the health of our freshwater and saltwater ponds, our town has relied on zoning to maintain enough upland area to filter contaminants before they reach the groundwater. For this reason, 3-acre zoning districts sit on top of aquifers, and 2-acre zoning districts cover areas that recharge them.
If a developer designates as little as 25% of units as affordable, the density bonuses in the current Low and Moderate Income Housing Act allow increases of 600% to 900% over the underlying zoning. Where one house was allowed in a 2-acre zone, seven can now be built; where one house was allowed in a 3-acre zone, ten can be built. Most developers propose the minimum number of affordable units, leaving 75% at market rate — but if a higher percentage of affordable units is proposed, these increases can climb as high as 2,400%, meaning 25 units where zoning allows only one.
Our zoning is designed to protect our drinking water. These enormous density bonuses are not.
Representative Megan Cotter has recognized this threat to drinking water supplies and submitted H 7446 to reform Rhode Island’s Low and Moderate Income (LMI) Housing Act and encourage more responsible housing development. This bill accommodates low and moderate income housing without negatively impacting the quantity or quality of Rhode Island’s precious and irreplaceable drinking water supplies. Representative Cotter’s proposed changes appear on pages 2 and 3 of the existing law and are highlighted in blue.
Please support this legislation by sending an email to the House Municipal Government and Housing Committee, which will be reviewing this proposed bill.
Send your own message, or feel free to use all or part of the sample email below.
- Attach your written testimony in PDF format if you are able.
- Include your name and address.
- State that you are in favor of H 7446 and explain why.
Send to the following legislative email addresses:
- House Municipal Government and Housing Committee – Housemunicipalgovernmentandhousing@rilegislature.gov
- Speaker Shekarchi – rep-shekarchi@rilegislature.gov
- State Representative Megan Cotter – megan@megancotterri.com
If you live in Charlestown, please also copy:
- State Representative Tina Spears – rep-spears@rilegislature.gov
- State Senator Victoria Gu – sen-gu@rilegislature.gov
- State Senator Elaine Morgan – ElaineForSenate@aol.com
Sample email subject line: Support H 7446 — Low and Moderate Income Housing
In the body of your email, include:
- “I am in favor of H 7446”
- Your name
- Your home address, including town and state
Sample Letter
House Municipal Government and Housing Committee
February 20, 2026
Rhode Island General Assembly
82 Smith Street
Providence, RI 02903
Subject: Support H 7446 — Low and Moderate Income Housing
Dear Chairman Casey and Members of the Committee:
I respectfully urge the Committee to adopt H 7446. I commend the sponsor of this important legislation, Representative Megan Cotter, and the co-sponsors — Representatives McGaw, Fogarty, Edwards, Santucci, Quattrochi, Chippendale, Casimiro, Newberry, and Roberts — for their leadership in recognizing the need to reform Rhode Island’s Low and Moderate Income (LMI) Housing Act to encourage more responsible housing development.
This bill provides common-sense amendments to accommodate low and moderate income housing without negatively impacting the quantity or quality of Rhode Island’s precious and irreplaceable drinking water supplies.
The current LMI Act allows density bonuses of up to 8 housing units per acre in areas that sit on top of aquifers and recharge zones that are the sole source of our community’s drinking water. Depending on the underlying zoning and the percentage of market-rate units, these density increases can range from 200% to 2,400% — and that does not include the potential for accessory dwelling units on each lot or for units to be duplexes. These are extraordinarily excessive density bonuses.
I support the need for more low and moderate income housing in Rhode Island. However, housing must be developed in ways that do not pollute our drinking water or overtax limited groundwater supplies. Rhode Island must have clean, safe, and sustainable drinking water to support existing residents and encourage future growth and economic development. The future prosperity of our state depends on it. I urge the Committee to adopt this bill.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment.
Sincerely,
[Your name and address]
Cc: House Speaker Shekarchi, [Your State Representative and State Senator]
February 22, 2026 @ 2:19 pm
I asked Google
RI DEM Onsite Wastewater Treatment System (OWTS) rules
focus on individual system compliance rather than cumulative impact analysis. While designed to prevent individual failures, they often fail to address the collective, long-term nutrient loading (nitrogen) from high-density, individual septic systems on groundwater and coastal watersheds.
System Limitations: While the rules aim to protect groundwater, they focus primarily on the design, location, and maintenance of individual, isolated systems rather than analyzing the cumulative nitrogen impact of multiple systems in a specific area.
Cumulative Nutrient Loading: In densely developed areas, the cumulative effect of many properly functioning, yet high-nitrifying, systems has been identified as a primary source of nitrogen loading, which the existing regulations may not fully mitigate.
Alternative Technologies: While alternative (I&A) systems are allowed for better treatment, the approval process and reliance on individual system performance do not automatically solve the overall, regional, cumulative, and systemic groundwater quality issues.
Local Responsibility: Due to these limitations, Rhode Island municipalities are increasingly relying on Wastewater Management Districts to manage cumulative impacts, as the DEM rules themselves often do not address the overarching, long-term, regional, cumulative, and, systemic impact.
The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM) has, in specific cases like in Warren, identified that cumulative nitrogen levels in wells require stricter adherence to existing regulations, suggesting that the standard rules are insufficient for protecting against cumulative, long-term impacts.
Notice it says, “DEM rules themselves often do not address the overarching, long-term, regional, cumulative, and, systemic impact.” That is what a town’s Zoning codes are supposed to do, but when a state law overrides zoning and DEM rules don’t address density or cumulative impacts, then no one and nothing is protecting ground water.
February 22, 2026 @ 1:48 pm
Previously posted at article titled [Affordable Housing Needs Local Control, Not More Market-Rate Units]. I should have posted here. OK with me to not post after review at [Affordable Housing] and just post here. Thank you.
Reviewing the law that mandates density bonuses—RI Gen. Laws § 45-24-46.1— I learned it contains significant safeguards for environmental standards. The law requires that inclusionary zoning density bonuses not be applied if state agency regulations like from the CRMC or DEM limit development density at the property in question. That provides some protection for Charlestown.
Reading more about the recent regulations, they may allow a developer to bypass local zoning density limits, but they don’t overrule state environmental safety standards. That says to me that if land can’t environmentally support the increased density of more units due to aquifer or septic capacity, any proposed project can’t proceed. Another thoughtful protection.