Fourth Of July Water Fight Canceled For Second Straight Year Due To Drought Conditions

Nantucket’s annual Fourth of July water fight has been cancelled for the second consecutive year as the island remains in a level two drought, as designated by the state.

“I know the water fight downtown is a pretty important thing, and it’s a strong tradition of the island, but I just don’t think it’s a good look for [the] Wannacomet [water company] or the town to ask the residents and the businesses to restrict water and us go ahead and have a water fight on Main Street,” water director Mark Willett told the Select Board on Wednesday.

Select Board member Bob DeCosta initially attempted to push for a compromise, potentially a single tanker of water provided for a slimmed-down version of the event that traditionally pits the Nantucket Fire Department against the Boynton Lane Reserves on Main Street.

“I’m not saying we need to drive three fire trucks down there and spray water everywhere,” he said. “Can’t we just fill up one of your portable tanks halfway full and let the kids fill their water guns and have fun on the 4th of July? Isn’t there some way that we can do this?”

But he eventually relented, and the Select Board agreed with the town administration and Willett’s recommendation to canel the water fight.

Precipitation levels have remained historically low for several years in a row, prompting a number of water use restrictions. Usually, Willett said, Nantucket receives around 40-42 inches of precipitation a year. The last three years, the island has seen 24, 27, and 20 inches.

“For three years in a row, we’ve been about half of what we usually get,” Willett said. “Last year, going back through all of Wannacomet’s rain historical records, I got all the way back into the early 80s and never saw anything close to 20 inches of rain in a year, which was last year. Last year, being that 20 [inches of] rain, from January to May, we had eight inches of rain.”

So far this year? Four inches.

“I don’t know if we’re going to get out of this any time soon,” Willett said. “We’re doing what we can do, and we’re asking businesses and customers to restrict outdoor water use.”

While the water fight has been canceled, the town has a full slate of events planned to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the independence of the United States.

Events planned by the town include a parade, a farmer’s market, a reading of the Declaration of Independence at St. Paul’s church, “industrial-sized” bubble machines, a band performance, live music, lawn games, face painting, a magic show, and, of course, fireworks.

The discussion at the Select Board unfolded along two lines. First, DeCosta suggested that the town was holding itself to a standard that didn’t apply to other users of the island’s sole source aquifer, such as private well owners or local golf courses.

“I get we’re in a level two drought, and I get that we don’t want to set a bad precedent, but I drive around this island and the golf courses are watering, everybody’s watering their yards, I’m watering my yard, cause I have a well,” DeCosta said. “How much water do they put on the golf courses on this island every day? It goes back into the ground. These kids are going to squirt each other, the water’s going to go back into the ground. It’s not like it’s going to disappear. I don’t know, I get frustrated with this kind of stuff. Nantucket’s known as the Grey Lady? There’s no more grey here anymore. It’s black, it’s white, that’s it.”

Willett said that the state regulates towns, golf courses, and private individuals separately.

“Golf courses are managed by Massachusetts,” he said. “Private wells are not restricted in any way by the Commonwealth.”

The Select Board also discussed a previous restriction blocking the use of squirt guns at the water fight that predated last year’s cancellation. DeCosta criticized the restriction.

“You might want to cancel the bubble machines, because someone’s going to get a bubble in their eye, and they’ll complain about that,” he said, suggesting the restriction was potentially arbitrary.

Other Select Board members defended it.

“They were playing games, shooting people in line, shooting into buildings, into businesses,” Select Board member Matt Fee said. “Some of the older kids were out of control, and the police were having trouble corralling them and enforcing that. Some of this we do to ourselves, unfortunately.”

Town Manager Libby Gibson assured the Select Board that the water fight would return after the drought restrictions are lifted, albeit without squirt guns.