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Eastham has long been addressing nitrogen pollution from septic systems, which is polluting local water bodies. Due to lawsuits enforcing the Clean Water Act, all Cape Cod towns, are subject to water quality management plans requiring nitrogen reduction in sensitive areas.
Eastham’s efforts target major watersheds like Salt Pond and Nauset Marsh, where 75–100% of nitrogen must be removed. In 2024, new DEP rules required towns without sewers to submit nitrogen reduction plans or require property owners to install costly Innovative Alternative (IA) septic systems—averaging $50,000 to install and $4,000 per year to maintain.
To avoid burdening residents, Eastham developed a DEP-approved plan that includes building a centralized sewer system for parts of town. Which alleviates the need for all property owners in Town to install IA Systems on their own. Saving individuals thousands and the community as a whole millions of dollars.
We realize that this decision may seem rushed. However, we felt it important to let the Town decide. It is inevitable that our community will need to implement a wastewater solution, and a community wastewater system is the most cost-effective, efficient solution that will save each of our property owners thousands of dollars annually, estimated to be over $120,000 over a 20-year life cycle.
Just recently, we received notice that we are eligible for funding through the State Revolving Fund Loan program (SRF) – which is now guaranteed for our whole project. That notice also indicates that future funding is not guaranteed for an entire project – and likely will not be offered on as attractive terms.
We expect the current guaranteed funding package will provide for loans between 0% and 2.6% and include some amount of loan forgiveness, whereas future funding is not guaranteed, will likely be at higher interest rates, and require the Town to issue its own bonds at market rates – this will add tens of millions of dollars of cost to any eventual project. The Select Board scheduled a Special Town Meeting on 6/23/2025 to discuss and decide on this single issue. To participate in the SRF Program, the State needs the Town to authorize the project by June 30, 2025.
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