News Archive

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.htmlFalmouth Enterprise – May 24, 2024

Two Birds With One Tiny House - Editorial

The town is facing two major problems, and the solution to one often exacerbates the other: wastewater and affordable housing. Unless a development is on the town sewer, opposition to affordable housing (whatever other motives may be in play) can legitimately be grounded in the fact that more toilets will further degrade our coastal ponds.

But a possible route to increasing rental housing stock without environmental damage exists: tiny houses and accessory dwelling units with urine-diverting toilets.

See full editorial at:

https://www.capenews.net/falmouth/eedition/page-f4/page_8551cd16-c087-548e-9b94-2ec066548c8d.html

Falmouth Enterprise - May 24, 2024

Falmouth Moves Forward With Study To Answer Questions About Urine Diversion Pilot

The select board this week approved an agreement with the Massachusetts Alternative Septic System Test Center for a urine diversion feasibility study. 

The study aims to provide answers to questions Town Meeting voters had about a urine-diversion pilot project, when they decided not to approve it last month. The four-year pilot project would gather data from up to 75 participating households to measure the effectiveness of the practice.

See full article at:

https://www.capenews.net/falmouth/eedition/page-f1/page_21fa3b31-fdd6-5c95-b49a-00c3c4ebdca2.html

Town’s Freshwater Ponds Get A Vote Of Support – Letter -- April 26, 2024

It was fitting that this past Monday, Earth Day, the select board approved six candidates for the newly established Freshwater Ponds Advisory Committee. Their votes represented a major milestone and expression of support for Falmouth’s 75+ freshwater ponds.

The committee will help raise awareness of the importance of protecting our freshwater ponds and will work with our town manager and select board to integrate pond protection strategies into Falmouth’s strategic plan. By doing so, the committee will help affirm the responsibility of the town government to actively engage in freshwater pond protection.

Kim Comart

Strand Way

East Falmouth

See full letter at: https://www.capenews.net/falmouth/opinion/town-s-freshwater-ponds-get-a-vote-of-support---letter/article_ff2b0456-cf9c-5eda-948f-eaad68533a12.html

Falmouth Enterprise - April 26, 2024

Falmouth Adopts Resolution Recognizing The Rights Of Nature

The select board this week made Falmouth the first community on the Cape and one of only a half-dozen municipalities in the nation to adopt a resolution recognizing that humanity is a part of nature, is responsible for nature’s care and should recognize nature as having the right to exist, persist, regenerate and be restored.

The resolution acknowledges Cape Cod’s unique landscapes—from its coastlines to its aquifer—and establishes the global climate change problem and an ever-increasing need to address the crisis.

See full article at: https://www.capenews.net/falmouth/news/falmouth-adopts-resolution-recognizing-the-rights-of-nature/article_ee5cf63e-1269-54ee-9a7b-1bce3bb5e2b1.html

Falmouth Enterprise - March 15, 2024

Town Management Takes Reins On Urine-Diversion Project

Falmouth town staff are working to resolve questions hanging over a proposed urine-diversion pilot project after the finance committee last week said it would recommend indefinite postponement of the idea at April’s Town Meeting.The plan is to bring the article back with all questions answered by the November Town Meeting.

Town manager Michael Renshaw told the select board during its meeting on Monday, March 11, that staff began meeting with Article 22 petitioners—Hilda Maingay, Earle Barnhart and members of the Falmouth Pond Coalition—after the finance committee said it had many unanswered questions concerning the program. Committee members generally said they supported the premise of the article, but they needed their questions answered. Mr. Renshaw said he and the assistant town manager plan to take the lead on making sure that all the details of the project come together for November’s Town Meeting.

See full article at: https://www.capenews.net/falmouth/news/town-management-takes-reins-on-urine-diversion-project/article_f8ef711b-731a-521d-97b1-3ecd4a031d70.html. 

Falmouth Enterprise - Feb 9, 2024

Falmouth Water Quality Committee Endorses Urine-Diversion Pilot

The water quality management committee officially recommended that the select board support a citizens petition article that would fund a urine-diversion pilot project. The committee and its partners have been planning this pilot for months, and Town Meeting members will vote on whether to appropriate $1.9 million for the project in April. 

See full article at:

https://www.capenews.net/falmouth/news/falmouth-water-quality-committee-endorses-urine-diversion-pilot/article_ca4dfc0b-c4fc-59bf-8d91-9765523a65bd.html. 

Falmouth Enterprise - Feb 2, 2024

Putting Urine To Work For Us 

By Hilda Maingay and Earle Barnhart 

Most of the nitrogen and phosphorus in our wastewater that pollutes our ponds and estuaries comes from one concentrated source: urine. A full 80 percent of the nitrogen in the wastewater is from urine, but urine is only 1 percent of the volume of residential wastewater—120 gallons per person per year. If that urine is diverted from the waste stream and collected, it will not go into the environment and pollute downstream ponds and estuaries. But if Falmouth does a urine-diversion pilot project and diverts the urine of 100 people from 50 homes, the question arises, “What do you do with that urine?” 

See full atticle at: https://www.capenews.net/falmouth/columns/putting-urine-to-work-for-us/article_b967ca90-5a8d-57de-94cc-7eef9655d947.html 

Falmouth Enterprise - Feb 1, 2024

Falmouth Select Board Creates Committee To Champion Town's Fresh Water Ponds 

The Select Board voted this week to create a new freshwater ponds advisory committee, tasked with finding solutions to pollution that is stifling freshwater quality across Falmouth.

This committee will be the first of its kind in protecting the town’s freshwater ponds. Town Manager Michael Renshaw suggested the select board appoint five committee members when it interviews prospective candidates at a future meeting. The board will vote on committee members once residents have had the opportunity to see the advertisements and apply to volunteer.

See full atticle at:

https://www.capenews.net/falmouth/news/falmouth-select-board-creates-committee-to-champion-towns-fresh-water-ponds/article_9dc22ce4-4cfc-5fc7-b137-53e54a0ee742.html. 

Falmouth Enterprise - Jan. 26, 2024

APCC: Water Quality In Cape Bays, Ponds Remained Poor In 2023

The Association to Preserve Cape Cod has released its annual State of the Waters report, a wide-ranging study of water quality across the Cape, and the results are mixed. The quality of public drinking water is generally good, but the percentage of coastal embayments and freshwater ponds with poor water quality in 2023 remained steady from the previous year, when the association listed 90 percent of bays and roughly 40 percent of ponds as “unacceptable.” 

Falmouth Enterprise - Jan. 25, 2024

Ashumet Pond Worst In State PFAS Report

Ashumet Pond had the highest concentrations of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in surface waters and fish tissue of any of the 52 water bodies tested in the state. Those facts were reported in December by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. 

Falmouth Enterprise - Dec. 8, 2023

New Falmouth Freshwater Committee In The Works

Falmouth residents are working on getting the select board to set up an advisory committee dedicated to freshwater pond, river and stream health.

Falmouth Enterprise - Dec. 8, 2023

Urine Diversion Pilot Planning Continues In Falmouth 

Urine-diversion advocates and water quality management committee members have spent the last two Wednesdays at town hall making progress planning for the urine-diversion pilot project. Committee and audience members at times disagreed on how the pilot should operate.

Falmouth Enterprise - Nov 9, 2023

Board Earmarks Funds For Urine-Diversion Pilot Program

The Select Board this week voted to allocate $80,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds to support education and outreach that will lay the groundwork for a four-year urine-diversion pilot project in town. Anyone interested in possibly participating in the pilot program can send an email to falmouthudstudy@gmail.com or call 617-548-6442.

Falmouth Enterprise - Sept. 29, 2023

Smashing The Pee Pee Paradigm

When Bill Hough called me and asked me to start writing this column more than a dozen years ago, there was never any discussion of subject matter. He simply wanted me to be a voice in the community, the town’s unofficial storyteller that I’ve tried to be over the years. I’ve written on triumph and tragedy, on local legends and regular citizens who take time to make a better tomorrow in many different ways. During that first conversation, I could not have conceived that someday I would be writing about pee, but here we are.

Falmouth Enterprise - Sept. 25, 2023

Pond Coalition To Host Educational Forum

Founded in 2022, with a mission to protect and preserve Falmouth’s freshwater ponds through “organizing, partnership and education,” the Falmouth Pond Coalition is hosting its first educational forum on Tuesday, October 17, from 5:30 to 8:30 PM at the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House at 840 Sandwich Road in East Falmouth. 

Falmouth Enterprise - Sept. 15, 2023 

Water Quality Is 'Moderate' In Falmouth's Freshwater Ponds

A survey of water quality in 28 of Falmouth’s freshwater ponds last year found that the ponds are in “reasonable shape,” Woodwell Climate Research Center scientist Christopher Neill said. However, he continued, action should be taken to prevent the ponds from continuing the transition from a clear water state to a nutrient-enriched state, which can cause low-oxygen conditions and toxic algae blooms.

The pond survey was coordinated by the Falmouth Water Stewards. Dr. Neill and a fleet of volunteers sampled 28 of Falmouth’s freshwater ponds twice last year: once in the summer, and once in the winter. All the summer samples were taken on the same day, as were all the winter samples. The samples were analyzed to determine levels of nitrate (the most mobile form of nitrogen), phosphate (the most mobile form of phosphorus), and chlorophyll (the best indicator of algae abundance).

Falmouth Enterprise - Sep 14, 2023

Phosphorus And Nitrogen Together Are Impacting Freshwater Ponds In Falmouth

The conventional wisdom among scientists for the past few years has been that nitrogen drives algae production in saltwater, and phosphorus drives algae production in freshwater. However, according to Woodwell Climate Research Center scientist Christopher Neill, it turns out that the combination of nitrogen and phosphorus, not phosphorus alone, is the primary driver of algae production in freshwater ponds. 

Falmouth Enterprise - Sep 8, 2023

Get Going Now – Letter to the Editor

Last week the Water Quality Management Committee (WQMC) was presented with a proposal for a urine-diversion (UD) pilot project. Brian Baumgaertel, director of the Massachusetts Alternative Septic System Test Center (MASSTC) wastewater division, provided details and cost estimates for the installation, monitoring and analysis of urine-diverting appliances in Falmouth. The WQMC has recognized that urine diversion—separating urine before it enters the septic system—is effective for reducing nitrogen input to our groundwater. The proposal spans about three years, a timeframe for the evaluation of I/A systems that the Massachusetts DEP regards as necessary to conform to testing standards.

Falmouth Enterprise - Sept. 1, 2023

Falmouth Is Losing Eelgrass. An Expert Explains Why That Matters

Eelgrass has many ecological virtues. Its tall, slender blades and strong roots sequester carbon, shelter young fish, make oxygen and clean the water column. But nitrogen pollution has been killing eelgrass in Falmouth’s estuaries for decades, so long that many people no longer know what healthy waters look like. Matthew H. Long, a marine chemist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, took time on a recent Tuesday to explain why eelgrass is so important and what its absence means for Falmouth.

Falmouth Enterprise - Sept. 1, 2023

Falmouth Water Quality Committee Moving Forward on Ocean Outfall Pipe

The Water Quality Management Committee has placed a $1.4M article on the November Town Meeting to seek approval for planning and early development of an outfall pipe into Vineyard Sound. 

June 23, 2023

Noting that in 25 to 50 years, large chunks of coastal Falmouth will submerge regularly, Marine Biological Scientist Ivan Valiela stated, “I don’t think it’s a wise thing to put pipes ... in areas that have a 25-year life expectancy,” especially given how expensive sewers are to install. See How Will Sea Level Rise Affect Falmouth's Sewer Plans?

Falmouth Enterprise - June 23, 2023

How Will Sea Level Rise Affect Falmouth's Sewer Plans? Ecosystem Scientist Weighs In

As the town works toward alleviating nitrogen loading by sewering over the next two decades, it must take into account that low-lying areas of Falmouth will be under water within 50 years, said Ivan Valiela, a scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole. In 25 to 50 years, large chunks of coastal Falmouth will submerge regularly, Dr. Valiela said, and added, “I don’t think it’s a wise thing to put pipes ... in areas that have a 25-year life expectancy,” especially given how expensive sewers are to install. See article.

Falmouth Enterprise - May 9, 2023

In an effort to reduce the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus entering our waters, Falmouth's Water Quality Management Committee discussed the pros and cons of a fertilizer ban at it's May 1st meeting.

Falmouth Enterprise - April 21, 2023

Kim Comart's guest column, A Watershed Moment?, was featured on the Editorial Page of the Falmouth Enterprise. The article has generated significant interest in the Falmouth Pond Coalition, including new volunteers and donations.

Falmouth Enterprise- April 7, 2023

Falmouth Water Quality Management Committee Chairman Eric Turkington's column, Rising Seas: Falmouth's Past, Present, Future, presents a sobering vision of the future of Falmouth's coastline. One of the ramifications of sea level rise is that an increasing percentage of Falmouth's current and planned sewers will be underwater and inoperable over the next few decades.