So many readers have asked us what they can do directly to affect policy regarding the clean-up of Shoestring Bay. For starters, send Town Managers Mark Ells [Barnstable] or Rodney Collins [Mashpee] an email expressing your outrage at the continued decline of the Bay. Collective action yields results!

Town of Barnstable
Mark Ells, Town Manager
Tel: 508-862-4610
mark.ells@town.barnstable.ma.us

Town of Mashpee
Rodney Collins, Town Manager
508-539-1401
mashpeema.gov/user/86/contact

Subject line: The urgency of cleaning up Shoestring Bay

As a resident of ___________ living on/around Shoestring Bay, I am writing to express my extreme dissatisfaction with the Town’s lack of focus on the destruction of our Bay from nitrogen pollution and potentially failing septic/cesspool systems. As you know, in 2019 Prof. Brian Howes (UMass Dartmouth SMAST Program) declared, “This Bay May Be the Most Polluted in Southeastern Massachusetts.”  Yet the Town’s actions regarding sewering, Title 5 permitting, and high-performance Innovative-Alternative (HPIA) septic system adoption all but ignore the continued decline of Shoestring Bay and the Popponesset Bay System.

I would like you and your colleagues to consider:

• Stop permitting Title 5 septic systems (new/replacement) within Nitrogen Sensitive Areas immediately
• Ask the Board of Health to issue an Emergency Use Authorization of non-typical, HPIA systems
• Facilitate the offer of low-interest loans for property owners to install HPIA systems
• Offer property owners two alternatives: Sewering or HPIA
• Stop listening to the developer complaints about ending Title 5. The cost of inaction is a higher priority.

I love living in __________ and am grateful for the quiet calm of Shoestring Bay. But its continued decline is untenable, and I ask you to please take our Bay more seriously!

Best,