Posted on October 26, 2017
By David Beatty, CapeCod.com
The Barnstable Town Council has voted to approve a long term draft wastewater treatment plan.
The move follows the release of a draft report from the town’s Water Resources Advisory Committee advising town officials on how best to deal with their municipal water issues.
The material was compiled into an action plan designed to preserve the town’s water supply and put Barnstable into compliance with the regional 208 Water Quality Management Plan.
The plan breaks town town-wide nitrogen loading into specific villages, neighborhoods, and even individual lots.
“We looked at such things as watershed individual impairments, pond water quality, ground water quality, economic development opportunities, flood zones, and sea-level rise,” said Lindsey Counsell, chairman of the Barnstable Water Resources Advisory Committee
According to the report, Barnstable’s most pressing issue remains the Three Bays area on the western side of town including the lower Marstons Mills River and Mill Pond.
Exacerbating the nitrogen problem is the town’s collection of septic systems, fertilizer runoff, and the lack of storm water runoff, all pared with the loss of natural filtration systems in the area including eel grass.
Despite the list of problems, Counsell said there are also numerous recent technological advancements in the field that will allow Barnstable to aggressively confront their wastewater issues and ensure a better future.
The issue has drawn impassioned input from members of the community. At last month’s meeting residents spoke out about the need for a wastewater solution on the mid-Cape.
The plan itself stretches mitigation efforts over a number of years, even decades. It include upgrades to the town’s sewer system as well as dredging and coastal modification efforts.
Storm-water management, aquaculture, septic innovations, and wetlands revitalization are all part of the comprehensive 20-year $167 million strategy that is considered just Phase One of the endeavor.
“Where you get the real opportunity for some of these alternative technologies is in the western part of town in the Three Bays, Cotuit area,” said Counsell,
“Unfortunately those are the areas that are heavily impacted by some of this current pollution.”
The Three Phase Plan takes Barnstable through the next six decades which will eventually run the town well over half a billion dollars, principally to be spent on a massive expansion of municipal sewering.
While councilors admitted to being stunned by the costs associated with the project, they did agree to adopt the draft plan and work over the coming years at reducing associated expenses.
Source: CapeCod.com
