The Mattapoisett Water and Sewer Department and Buzzards Bay Coalition are working together in the hopes of purchasing and preserving 114-acres owned by the Tinkham family that sits on the Mattapoisett River Valley water supply.

On Sept. 22, Buzzards Bay representatives Brendan Annett and Allen Decker asked Selectmen for their support as they seek the state Drinking Water Supply Protection Grant to fund half of the $628,000 price for the land, which is three separate parcels near Acushnet Road and Long Plain Road.

Annett, the vice president of watershed protection, said the competitive grant must be submitted by Sept. 30. If awarded the grant money, the town would need to spend it on the project by the end of June 2016.

“We’ve been working with the Water and Sewer Department in Mattapoisett as well as water departments in surrounding towns that utilize the Mattapoisett River Valley for more than a decade,” said Annett.

The Coalition helped to secure a large swath of cranberry bogs and surrounding land on Acushnet Road a few years ago and also worked with the town to preserve land on Wolf Island Road. Both areas are important to protecting the aquifer that supplies several towns with drinking water, says the Coalition.

Annett said the organization has spoken with many property owners along the aquifer for years in the hopes of preserving more land.

If the state grant is secured, Annett said the remaining funds to purchase the land would hopefully come from federal grants and Community Preservation grants.

Selectmen said they would back the state grant, but were concerned about the prospect of the town funding much of the remaining funds. Selectmen asked if Fairhaven, which also uses water from the aquifer, could contribute money to the land purchase.

Annett said that was a possibility as the two towns had shared costs for the purchase of property on Wolf Island Road.