My View: Time for Title 6
Zenas Crocker
Groundwater on Cape Cod moves one to four feet a day, so all the wastewater and nitrogen that we have put in the ground is on a slow march to our surrounding waters, and it will be with us for decades.
At Barnstable Clean Water Coalition, we are working on ways to intercept the nutrient-loaded groundwater and clean it up.
Cape Cod is not alone, but we can develop and prove out technology that will impact the world.
For decades, the residents of the Cape and Islands have had their heads in the sand. Literally. We all were led to believe that our waste treatment system known as a Title 5 septic system took care of our wastewater problems, and we could all go about the business of enjoying the pristine waters and blue economy of Cape Cod. And then, after we knew better, we chose to believe this falsehood. Boy, were we wrong.
Buzzards Bay Coalition receives $75,000 grant for water monitoring
Standard-Times Staff
NEW BEDFORD Local nonprofit Buzzards Bay Coalition received a $75,000 grant to support testing a faster way to monitor its nitrogen-reducing septic systems.
The pilot project will occur in West Falmouth where the coalition has installed 30 of these systems over the last four years.
“The impact of what we learn in this study will go well beyond West Falmouth,” said Maureen Thomas, water resources specialist for the coalition, in a written statement. “The information that we collect will be directly transferable throughout the Buzzards Bay watershed and to other coastal communities working on tackling the nitrogen pollution problem by implementing nitrogen-reducing septic systems.”