Massachusetts Alternative Septic System Test Center (MASSTC) - Dec. 5, 2024

Decentralized Wastewater Systems: Outreach is Essential!

An important but often overlooked component of the wastewater treatment industry are septic systems (sometimes called onsite or decentralized wastewater treatment systems). Standard septic systems collect waste from your toilets, showers, and sinks. Approximately 20% of Americans use them. They are especially common in coastal areas like Cape Cod, where roughly 80% homes treat their wastewater onsite.

Standard septic systems--a septic tank and leach field--aren't always the best option for wastewater treatment, especially in areas like Cape Cod that are ecologically sensitive. In addition to sewers, there are more advanced options available (e.g. innovative/alternative septic systems, composing toilets, urine diversion and more), but because they're not in the mainstream, getting information can be a challenge.

That's why MASSTC staff are dedicated to spreading the word about decentralized wastewater systems and the various alternative options that are available. Not only do we welcome visitors to our facility in Falmouth, we're also happy to schedule events in the community. Please reach out and book us to talk to your group today! Go to https://www.masstc.org/

Falmouth Enterprise - Dec 6, 2024

Health Board, Water Quality Group Discuss Timing, Costs Of I/A Initiatives

Regulations from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection mandate that Falmouth must find ways to reduce the concentration of nitrogen seeping into its waterways.

To achieve this, the town plans to expand its sewer system and require other property owners—whose properties are in nitrogen-sensitive areas that are not slated to be sewered—to install innovative/advanced (I/A) nitrogen-reducing septic systems and connect more residences to sewer. When, where and how to fund those improvements are three important, unanswered questions.

There is “no easy answer,” Falmouth Health Agent Scott McGann said.

At this week’s board of health meeting, water quality management committee member John Waterbury said there are two major issues the town is facing.

Issue one, Mr. Waterbury said, has to do with how the town can help residents shoulder the financial burden of installing advanced septic systems. For the town to meet the total maximum daily load of nitrogen required by the department of environmental protection, in addition to adding sewer connections, about 5,000 advanced nitrogen-reducing systems will need to be installed. Advanced septic systems range in price from $15,000 to $40,000, depending on size.

“How are we going to pay for that?” Mr. Waterbury asked.

A Proposition 2½ override is being considered by the water quality management committee as a way to bring costs down for advanced septic systems. The override would need to be passed both at Town Meeting and as a ballot question at the polls.

See full article at:

Health Board, Water Quality Group Discuss Timing, Costs Of I/A Initiatives

Falmouth Enterprise - Nov 22, 2024

Urine-Diversion Pilot On Hold Yet Again

A town-wide urine-diversion pilot program remains in limbo after Town Meeting voted this week to fund related studies for the project, but not the pilot program itself.

Voters on Monday approved $106,000—an amended version of Article 23—to continue planning the pilot program.

Urine diversion is a wastewater management method in which urine is collected instead of being flushed down the toilet. Nitrogen and phosphorus occur naturally in human pee, so diverting urine from the waste stream lowers the amount of those nutrients flowing into and polluting Falmouth’s estuaries. The diverted pee can then be pasteurized and reused as fertilizer.

The purpose of the pilot project is to assess the potential benefits of community-scale urine diversion as a way to reduce nitrogen pollution in coastal waters.

The project has been in the pipeline for nearly two years and has been postponed indefinitely at three Town Meetings.

Petitioners of the article—including Hilda Maingay and Earle Barnhart—asked for $1.9 million to fund the program, which would have subsidized urine-diverting toilets for interested residents.

But earlier this year the town learned that under state law, it cannot use taxpayer money to provide subsidies to program participants. Some in town argued that the proposal still had too many loose ends and needed more work.

The article came to the Town Meeting floor with both the select board and finance committee recommending indefinite postponement.

Project proponent Matthew C. Patrick suggested amending the article to continue funding ongoing studies on urine diversion in the amount of $106,000.

See full article at:

Urine-Diversion Pilot On Hold Yet Again

Falmouth Enterprise – Oct. 16, 2024

Committee Explores Tax Rebates, Override For I/A Systems

Stephen B. Leighton, vice chairman of the water quality management committee, said he understands homeowners' reservations about installing innovative and alternative (I/A) septic systems.

Before he began his slideshow presentation at last week's committee meeting on potential pathways to pursue special legislation for I/A subsidies, Mr. Leighton told the committee and those in the audience that they may disagree with his presentation.

“There is very little benefit to the homeowners,” Mr. Leighton said, of installing I/A septic systems.

I/A systems will benefit the environment by reducing the nutrient pollution in the watershed but to individual homeowners, the cost of an I/A system is high, costing upwards of $20,000. The committee is anticipating pushing back on a potential mandate from the board of health to install I/A septic systems for new construction in environmentally sensitive areas.

Chairman Steven D. Rafferty said that currently the town cannot offer a subsidy for systems on private property.

Mr. Leighton and committee member Jonathan Kaufman presented potential options for making the cost of an I/A system more manageable for homeowners.

See full article at:

Committee Explores Tax Rebates, Override For I/A Systems | Falmouth News | capenews.net

Falmouth Enterprise – Sep 13, 2024

Freshwater Advisory Committee Begins Creating Plans For Rehabilitating Ponds

Falmouth’s Freshwater Ponds Advisory Committee is building a roadmap for what the town needs to do to improve and protect its ponds.

Last Thursday, September 5, the group met to review recommendations that it will take to Town Manager Michael Renshaw and the select board on what the town should do for its 28 freshwater ponds.

Five of the committee’s six members compiled 15 tasks covering topics ranging from stormwater and property management to pond research and public education.

“Many homeowners have no idea that what they’re doing to their properties has any effect on the water,” committee member Angela Tanner said.

Some of the goals might be accomplished by members themselves while others will require help from town departments, including the board of health, or even a Town Meeting vote. For instance, member William B. Kerfoot condensed his three recommendations into one drafted Town Meeting article that asks the town to commission several studies. One would map groundwater flow from and around freshwater ponds, another would establish maximum daily loads for phosphorus into freshwater ponds and the third would analyze and estimate how much phosphorus is already flowing into freshwater ponds through septic system effluent and fertilizer, among other sources.

Many impaired water bodies around town already have total maximum daily loads of nitrogen set by the state that the town must work to meet. Both nitrogen and phosphorus, in excess, can cause harmful algae blooms and damage water quality.

“The less [nitrogen and phosphorus] you put into the pond the better it’s going to be,” committee member George Heufelder said. “Our efforts should be to prevent those things from getting into the ponds.”

He suggested the committee hire a consultant to work with its members to draft a plan for studying Falmouth’s freshwater ponds and potentially seek funds from the town for long-term water quality monitoring.

“I think that’s a harder sell because people don’t relate to freshwater ponds,” Mr. Heufelder said. “They can all go to the beach, they can’t all go to the ponds.”

See full article at: 

https://www.capenews.net/falmouth/news/freshwater-advisory-committee-begins-creating-plans-for-rehabilitating-ponds/article_4f4ae437-be86-5ddb-9fc1-e39c0a7fbb76.html

Falmouth Enterprise – Aug 27, 2024

Shivericks Pond Improvement Project Gains Support For Viewing Platform Preservation Funding

The Shivericks Pond Improvement Project has taken another step forward after securing the community preservation committee’s support for an additional $103,000 to finish the viewing platform in the park along Katharine Lee Bates Road.

At its August 22 meeting, the committee prepared a warrant article for the project, which has been in progress since 2015 and in the minds of Falmouth residents for more than a century. The viewing platform, which was part of the original plan, went over budget, so Town Planner Jed Cornock came to the committee to request emergency funding from Town Meeting this fall.

Supporting the additional funds was an easy sell for the committee, which oversaw funding for the park at the same location that opened in May. The only hang-up was over whether this will be the final act in completing this project, which has been years in the making.

See full article at: 

https://www.capenews.net/falmouth/news/shivericks-pond-improvement-project-gains-support-for-viewing-platform-preservation-funding/article_6e13e22b-ad4c-54bc-87a5-30e4e77b2ea4.html

Falmouth Enterprise – July 5, 2024

Volunteers Build Detailed Database Of Pond Health Throughout Falmouth

Three women each raised their hands to their brows, blocking the sun as they looked out over Cedar Lake where they watched a contractor spread an herbicide in the water from a boat. It is a special kind of herbicide, both they and Falmouth Pond Coalition founder Kim Comart said, one specifically designed to kill one pesky and invasive plant: fanwort.

One of the women, Joyce L. Bock, whose home offered the perfect vantage point for viewing the contractors’ work, said it probably got into the waterbody when someone dumped their home aquarium out into the water. Now, it has taken over a substantial portion of the lake and when it blooms white flowers over the surface of the water, she said it looks like a meadow. The contractors were being paid with funds raised by neighbors of the pond for the first phase of a project years in the making, she said. The immediate plan is to rid half of the lake of fanwort. The other half will be funded in the second phase, although Ms. Bock did not know when that phase will be approved.

See full article at:

https://www.capenews.net/falmouth/eedition/page-f1/page_c3d67275-57c4-53d2-8e3c-20638dfcc683.html

Falmouth Enterprise – May 31, 2024

Water Quality Advocates Want To Make UD Project Less Restrictive

A urine-diversion study is on the horizon and the Falmouth Water Quality Management Committee has wrestled with the details of how it might work, specifically whether homeowners participating in a pilot project would have to swap out all their toilets for urine-diverting devices.

Members discussed the topic during their meeting on May 22, two days after the select board approved an agreement with the Massachusetts Alternative Septic System Test Center for a urine-diversion feasibility study.

The study, funded with $80,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, will address unanswered questions about a potential town-funded urine-diversion pilot project. The three-year project would gather data from up to 75 participating households to measure the effectiveness of the practice and give the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection information on whether urine diversion is a technology that could effectively replace expensive innovative/alternative septic systems.

Urine diversion is a wastewater management method in which urine is collected instead of being flushed down the toilet. Nitrogen and phosphorus are nutrients found in human pee, so diverting urine from the waste stream lowers the amount of those nutrients that can make their way into the town’s estuaries. That would help the town meet state requirements for Falmouth and other Cape Cod towns for reducing nitrogen in local watersheds in coming years.

See full article at:

https://www.capenews.net/falmouth/news/water-quality-advocates-want-to-make-ud-project-less-restrictive/article_2900a2d5-036d-5b23-83fb-f53a57169926.html

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