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
In recent posts we’ve documented the decades-long decline of Shoestring Bay and other Cape estuaries due primarily to the effluent coming from our Title 5-approved septic systems. The stuff that comes out of our home water waste lines winds up in our waterways, creating nutrient (nitrogen/phosphates) overload and habitat degradation. If the thought of year-round …
In March 2021, the Town of Barnstable unveiled its preliminary cost model for paying for the $1.4 billion multi-decade project of sewering of the town. Half of the cost would be come from existing funds. The rest would fall on property owners, to the tune of a $17,000/property assessment, paid out over 30 years. An …
Excuse us while we do a couple of back-flips. We're so excited over the news that the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) filed suit against the Town of Barnstable last week asking for "temporary suspension of permitting of conventional septic systems when they are part of a new construction or replacement of an existing system." [Source: …
For more than 20 years, the towns of Barnstable and Mashpee have known that Shoestring Bay was being slowly destroyed by excess nitrogen from septic systems leaching into the groundwater. They've known that Title 5-approved septic systems were never designed to remove nitrogen from wastewater. And they've known that the installation of Title 5 septic …
Continue reading Shoestring Bay Can’t Wait Another 20 Years: Approve I/A Systems Now
The town of Barnstable estimates it will cost $1.4billion to undo the decades of neglect of our polluted, dying waterways. That could cost a property owner $17k over 30 years for sewering costs and other remediation technologies. Yup, that's a lot of money. But the cost of doing nothing is even scarier. The decrease in …
Continue reading You Think Fixing our Waterways is Expensive?
The Back Story:Over-Nutrification of Cape WaterwaysFor decades, Shoestring Bay has been under attack by nitrogen-rich septic system effluent [human urine] that leaches from Title-5 septic systems. The nitrogen from our leaching fields moves quickly through the Cape's sandy soil (up to five times faster than text book Title-5 flow rates) into the water table, and …
Continue reading Sewering Comes to Barnstable…But Not Shoestring Bay
Save Our Shoestring 