Happy Summer!We’ve been away for a while and thought it was time for an update on the appalling condition of Shoestring Bay, any progress the towns of Barnstable and Mashpee may have made in addressing the decline, and the status of Mass. Department of Environmental Protection's [MA-DEP] game-changing 2023 mandate for siting, upgrading, and maintaining …
Continue reading Shoestring Bay Degradation: The Good, The Bad, and the Really Ugly
As noted in our last post, on June 21, 2023 the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection released new regulations for siting, upgrading and maintaining septic systems on Cape Cod. In short, the new regulations “require residents and towns on the Cape to reduce the nitrogen in their wastewater. Towns may apply for watershed permits, which …
Continue reading Mass DEP Catch 22: New Septic Regulations, No Effective Way to Implement Them
On June 21 the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection released new regulations for siting, upgrading and maintaining septic systems on Cape Cod. In short, the new regulations "require residents and towns on the Cape to reduce the nitrogen in their wastewater. Towns may apply for watershed permits, which will allow each community to tailor its …
Barnstable and the Commonwealth Fiddle while Shoestring Bay Burns Giant algae blooms on Shoestring Bay May 30, 2023. Last winter we participated in several Mass DEP public hearings concerning the proposed septic upgrade regulations 310 CMR 15 and 314 CMR 21. Despite forceful push-back from some residents, politicians, and businesses, we hoped the state would …
There's a movement afoot among some Cape and Southcoast politicians to thwart the new DEP regulations on septic pollution. So we're all fighting back. If you get the Boston Sunday Globe, check out page A7 in today's paper to see the full-page ad demanding state and local officials commit to new septic rules to cut …
Continue reading A Plea to Local + State Lawmakers to Support New Septic Rules
Visually, the water is usually less than translucent, smells, and is clogged with a vast field of dying red and green algae,” said Gary Markowitz, co-founder of Cape Cod advocacy group Save Our Shoestring. “Visitors to our home note the contamination and the smell and have renamed the bay in conversation — of course, in …
Continue reading “Pooponesset Bay” Memorialized in Boston.Com Article!
Note: Today Gary read the following statement at the DEP public hearing regarding the proposed septic upgrade regulations. We encourage all of our Shoestring Bay neighbors to submit comments to the DEP. Feel free to borrow any content from our statement. My name is Gary Markowitz and I’m the co‐founder of SOS‐Save Our Shoestring Bay, …
Continue reading Our Comments Read at the DEP Public Hearing on December 1
Note from Save Our Shoestring: We couldn't agree more with Zenas Crocker of the Barnstable Clean Water Coalition, who says the DEP's proposed changes should target properties close to waterways first. "You treat first those areas that are closest to the water because these are the ones that are contributing the most load most quickly," …
Continue reading WBUR Covers Mass. DEP Proposed Changes to Title 5
Yesterday, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection [DEP] released its long-awaited draft regulations intended to fix the disaster that is Title 5. The release follows the DEP's preliminary announcement in June 2022 of pending changes to septic system siting in nitrogen sensitive areas. [See our post on the June announcement.] When implemented, the regs. will …
Continue reading Mass. DEP Releases Draft Plan to Clean Up Cape Waterways
If you're free tonight, head over to Freedom Hall [976 Main St, Cotuit] at 7:30pm when the Cotuit-Santuit Civic Association hosts a meeting/discussion with Chris Kilian from the Conservation Law Foundation. Chris will update us on CLF's work to preserve and restore Cape Cod's waters through litigation and community pressure. Save Our Shoestring has worked …
Continue reading CLF Update on Lawsuit at Freedom Hall 10/18/22 at 7:30pm
Save Our Shoestring 