APOD Bylaw Update

APOD Bylaw Update: What This Proposal Does and Why It Matters 

Dedham’s current aquifer protections are outdated and incomplete. Large portions of the aquifers that supply our daily drinking water are not covered by existing zoning protections. 

Dedham's current APODs are designed to protect only the minimum land area required to ensure an approved quantity of water can be withdrawn for up to 180 days during the most extreme drought conditions. Water quality is not meaningfully addressed in the existing bylaw. Yet without protecting water quality, water quantity alone has little practical value. 

APOD Recommendations submitted to Dedham Conservation Commission, December 2025

What's Being Proposed

The petition asks Town Meeting to:

• Update APOD maps using the most current, state-provided data from Massachusetts (via MassMapper).

• Expand APOD boundaries to include:

  • All Wellhead Protection Zone II areas (land that supplies water to wells during drought), and

  • All high- and medium-yield aquifers that contribute to Dedham’s drinking water.

  • Potentially the entire water basin feeding our potable wells.  Note that exceptions within the APOD can be made by the Planning Board.

• Make these updated maps official, so they are part of Dedham’s Zoning Map and can be enforced.

In simple terms: the proposal aligns Dedham’s aquifer protections with where the water actually comes from while not restricting reasonable economic opportunity for the town.