Part 2 of a 2-Part Series on the Validity of the CLF Lawsuit In Part 1 [read], we considered the basis for the Conservation Law Foundation's lawsuit against Barnstable, Mashpee, and the Mass. Department of Environmental Protection [DEP] -- whether these entities have been violating Title 5 law by sanctioning septic systems that far exceed …
Continue reading Part 2: Are Barnstable + Mashpee Breaking the Law?
Part 1 of a 2-Part Series on the Validity of the CLF Lawsuit In June 2021, the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) filed suit against the Mass. Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Towns of Barnstable and Mashpee, charging them with violating the state’s Title 5 regulations, specifically targeting the passages on limiting nutrient discharge …
For the last few years, we have been politely asking everyone in charge at the Town of Barnstable to allow homeowners in areas the sewer won't reach for a decade or more to install, at our own cost, an I/A septic system to speed up the attack on nutrient pollution. And with each phone call, …
Continue reading Mashpee Proposes What Barnstable Won’t Even Consider
Our friends at Barnstable Clean Water Coalition alerted us to an opportunity for Cape Cod residents to have a say in how Barnstable County spends $41M in American Rescue Plan (ARPA)funding. Now's the time to use infrastructure dollars to reduce nitrogen pollution in our waterways. Please read below and take the following action: Complete the …
Happy new year everyone! Here's hoping 2022 is a milestone year for improving the quality of Shoestring Bay and all nitrogen-polluted waterways on the Cape. We've been pretty tough on the Town of Barnstable as we work to raise awareness of the dangers facing Shoestring Bay and other affected bodies of water. But we've come …
Amid the drumbeat of bad news about the declining water quality within Shoestring Bay and other Cape Cod waterways, we’ve got some good news to report. The Cape’s Massachusetts Alternative Septic System Test Center (MASSTC) announced that we’ve moved one step closer to having a superior nitrogen sensor to measure the compliance of I/A septic …
Continue reading Inching Closer to a Better I/A Measurement Tool
A shout out to the Buzzards Bay Coalition for this concise but powerful overview of the damage nitrogen pollution is causing to Cape waterways. Substitute Buzzards Bay with Shoestring Bay and and you'll understand the looming disaster for our home. West Falmouth homeowner Bob Kretschmar first noticed it about 10 years ago: slimy green algae …
Continue reading Great Primer on Nitrogen Pollution on Cape Cod
Well folks, Barnstable is about to take the first step in its 30-year plan to reduce nitrogen emissions from septic systems in our waterways. Following is the town's press release announcing the Strawberry Hill Road Sewer Expansion Project. Town of Barnstable Announces Groundbreaking on First Major Sewer Expansion ProjectThe Town of Barnstable Department of Public …
Continue reading Barnstable to Break Ground on 1st Sewer Expansion Project
As we reported on July 28, 2021, Prof. Brian Howes opened his annual report presentation to the town of Mashpee on the state of our waterways with these ominous words: "For the first time in 20 years I have nothing good to say." Well, I'm pleased to report that, after hearing Town Manager Mark Ells' …
Continue reading Some Hopeful News from Town Council Workshop on Shoestring Bay’s Future
We're still digesting the data and observations from Prof. Brian Howes' distressing report to the Town of Mashpee Board of Selectmen on the steadily declining water quality of our bays due to nitrogen pollution. Howes is Chancellor Professor at the School for Marine Science + Technology at UMass. Dartmouth and has been tracking the decline …
Continue reading A Few Take Aways from Doomsday Report on Our Bays
Save Our Shoestring 