[Osterville, MA] On October 14^th, Barnstable Clean Water Coalition (BCWC) was awarded a 5-year $750,000 Southeast New England Program (SNEP) Pilot Watershed grant from the Environmental Protection Agency. As one of four recipients for this new grant program, BCWC will receive $150,000 a year to advance their efforts to restore 56 acres of cranberry bogs at the headwaters of the Marstons Mills River to a natural wetlands system. An estimated 40% of the excess nitrogen load for Three Bays Estuary transits these cranberry bogs.

This grant award will fund design, permitting, and a portion of the implementation of the cranberry bog restoration. The restoration will be designed to maximize the ability of the system to reduce nitrogen pollution and transport downriver to the Three Bays estuary. Excess nitrogen is the major contributor to Cape Cod’s ongoing coastal water quality problems. The grant will allow for continued funding of water quality monitoring in the Marstons Mills River, a key factor in determining the effectiveness of this restoration. The project seeks to provide a model for restoring water quality in other degraded areas throughout Cape Cod and New England.

“BCWC is excited to be named as one of the first ever recipients of the SNEP Pilot Watershed Grant. Since water travels down the Marstons Mills River from the bogs to the Three Bays estuary in less than eight hours, this project is a unique opportunity to use a nature-based solution to mitigate nitrogen overload in a way that will have a rapid impact on the estuary,” said BCWC Deputy Director Casey Chatelain.

To learn more about this project, email cchatelain@bcleanwater.org. To learn how you can support Barnstable Clean Water Coalition, click here

[Osterville, MA] On October 5^th, Barnstable Clean Water Coalition (BCWC) will break ground on its Shubael Pond Innovative/Alternative (I/A) Septic System project. A total of 15 KleanTu NitROE systems, an enhanced I/A septic system, will be installed as a part of this project. Currently Provisionally Approved by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MA DEP), the most recent NitROE system installations have achieved a 95% reduction in nitrogen. Nitrogen in wastewater from traditional Title V septic systems is the primary culprit behind Cape Cod’s coastal water quality problems. In addition to testing these promising systems on an individual level, this project will also look at the cumulative effect from a cluster of these systems on nitrogen levels in groundwater.

“The large-scale use of enhanced I/A systems is absolutely critical in addressing Cape Cod’s water quality problems,” says BCWC Executive Director Zenas Crocker. “The majority of Cape Cod will never see municipal sewage treatment or won’t see it for decades. Advancing enhanced I/A systems to General Use Approval from MA DEP will allow for their widespread use to protect our bays, ponds, rivers and drinking water.”

In addition to its promising results, BCWC is excited about the NitROE system for three reasons: 1) it has a power loss fail-safe – in the absence of power it is still a functioning Title V septic system; 2) it is not an exceedingly complicated system; and 3) it can be retrofitted to an existing Title V septic system, dramatically lowering the cost of the system as compared to an entirely new system. Partners on this effort include the Massachusetts Alternative Septic System Test Center, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Research and Development, the United States Geological Survey, The Nature Conservancy, and the Town of Barnstable.

To learn more about this project, email cchatelain@bcleanwater.org. To learn how you can support Barnstable Clean Water Coalition, click here.

THANK YOU to everyone who came out and joined us for the 4^th annual Shuck! A Day of Oysters & Beer! at Cape Cod Beer. With the help of the Brew Crew, BCWC's volunteers, the oyster farmers and shuckers, and the vendors, close to $5,000 was raised for BCWC! We had so much fun & hope that you did, too!

Check out the event photos on Facebook: https://tinyurl.com/tm3xmpr9

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