From the Mashpee Enterprise · June 18, 2021 · By Ryan Spencer
Mashpee and Falmouth placed sandbags on June 16, 2021, to plug a leaking water control structure at Red Brook Road, letting a flooded former cranberry bog, which some residents call Red Brook Pond, begin to refill. Mashpee Public Works Director Catherine E. Laurent described it as a temporary step taken in response to residents’ concerns while the towns investigate. The structure failed in summer 2020 and the impoundment drained; since then, Mashpee Town Meeting accepted a road layout that includes the structure, and the town applied to the state Division of Ecological Restoration for help with repairs and restoration.
Natural Resources Director Ashley Fisher said the dammed bog had acted as a sink for nutrients and contaminants, and that after it drained, part of Hamblin Pond was closed to shellfishing over concerns about E. coli and nutrients from Red Brook; that closure will stay until a long-term fix is in place. Officials expect a future project to cover the brook corridor from its headwaters to the culvert, with possible fish passage restoration with the Division of Marine Fisheries and attention to the low, flood-prone road as the climate changes. Conservation Agent Andrew R. McManus said the brook was naturally free-flowing before the bogs and that the drained condition was not an environmental catastrophe for wildlife.
Read the full story in the Mashpee Enterprise: “Red Brook Reservoir Refilled With Water, For Now” →
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