West Tisbury selectmen want to clarify whether the town can restrict private companies taking water from public land.

Selectmen this week approved a request by conservation commission chairman Prudy Burt to ask town counsel Ronald H. Rappaport to review the town’s authority to regulate or prohibit water taking.

Ms. Burt said she had seen a dramatic increase in landscaping companies filling water tank trucks from the Mill Brook on Scotchman’s Bridge Lane.

West Tisbury private landowners bordering Mill Brook may be eligible for a state program that offers to pay 75 per cent of costs associated with cleaning the environment on their property as water flows through on its way into Mill Pond.