From the Falmouth Enterprise · December 12, 2023 · By Gilda Geist
Falmouth, Mashpee and Sandwich reached a tentative intermunicipal agreement on cutting the nutrient pollution that reaches Waquoit Bay, mostly through groundwater from home septic systems. The towns had worked on the deal since before the pandemic. Falmouth has been cleaning up its south-coast estuaries from west to east, so Waquoit, the easternmost, was expected to come near the end. The agreement could move it up. All three towns planned to notify the state in January 2024 that they would seek watershed permits, which are binding plans showing how each town will cut its nitrogen.
The permits follow tougher state septic rules adopted in 2023. Falmouth’s consultant, GHD, estimated each town’s share of the nitrogen that actually reaches the bay: about 50 percent from Falmouth, 44 percent from Mashpee and 6 percent from Sandwich.
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.
