From the Falmouth Enterprise · April 14, 2023 · By Noelle Annonen
On April 11, 2023, the second night of Falmouth Town Meeting, voters took up two wastewater articles. Article 24 added $9.5 million for upgrades to the town's wastewater treatment facility, after inflation pushed costs up, and passed easily. Article 25 would have paid for design and permitting of a sewer expansion in the Teaticket/Acapesket area and for enlarging two discharge sites at the plant. The voice vote was unclear. A counted vote came out 106 to 79 in favor, short of the two-thirds majority needed, so it failed. Speakers from the Falmouth Pond Coalition and the Green Center argued for urine-diverting toilets instead of sewers. Water Quality Management Committee chair Eric Turkington said the town had offered incentives for alternative toilets years ago and only seven people kept them.
Falmouth is one of the three towns sharing the Waquoit Bay watershed, and its wastewater choices affect how much nitrogen reaches coastal waters. Wastewater superintendent Amy Lowell said sewering is the only workable option in the densely built part of town, while urine diversion could suit less crowded areas. She said staff will return to Town Meeting with a fuller presentation and ask again. The committee has also voted to pursue an ocean outfall pipe as the long-term discharge site, but Lowell said permitting one is hard and no timeline exists yet.
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