From the Falmouth Enterprise · January 25, 2022 · By Mackenzie Ryan
Falmouth’s Water Quality Management Committee reported on January 24, 2022, that it had been talking with Mashpee and Sandwich about an intermunicipal agreement assigning each town’s share of nitrogen reduction in Waquoit Bay. Committee member Thomas Duncan said technical consultant Kristen Rathjen had adapted an existing Popponesset Bay agreement for Waquoit, with Falmouth handling the funding and bookkeeping, and that the draft was out for feedback. Duncan said Mashpee had earlier suggested shellfish could solve the problem but had more recently become open to a memorandum of understanding.
Each town’s share would be based on the attenuated nitrogen load reaching the bay from 48 sub-watersheds identified by the engineering firm GHD, figures all three towns were comfortable using. The draft includes a way to value and trade nitrogen credits if one town removes more than its share, but it sets no deadlines and does not commit any town to sewering a particular area. The committee also told Mashpee that other Falmouth projects, such as Great Pond, have larger removal requirements and need attention too.
This is CPWB’s summary of a news article. The full article and its photos are published by the Falmouth Enterprise.
Drafted with AI assistance from the linked source.
