10/13/2011 ENVIRONMENTAL OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE Minutes

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i EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Cape Cod is blessed with abundant waters, both fresh and salt. During the past ten years, significant strides have been made to assess the water quality status and impacts on coastal estuary waters, but a comparable effort had not been initiated to assess pond and lake water quality. In 1999, the Cape Cod Commission, in coordination with a number of other organizations, set a goal of developing a network of citizens and organizations concerned with the quality of Cape Cod ponds. A limited number of ponds had been studied extensively in the 1980's and regional sampling of ponds had been done a couple of times, but these regional assessments had generally focussed on the larger ponds and had not provided a comprehensive picture of pond water quality on Cape Cod. With funding from the state Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, the cooperation and free laboratory services provided by the School of Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) at UMASS-Dartmouth, subsequent funding from the Community Foundation of Cape Cod, and the grass-roots enthusiasm of volunteer water quality samplers and other concerned citizens, the Cape Cod Pond and Lake Stewardship (PALS) program was initiated and nurtured to achieve the goal of better understanding the status of Cape Cod ponds. This Pond and Lake Atlas is a status report on the PALS program. It documents the outreach and education activities leading to the creation of the PALS program, reviews water quality data collected by volunteers during the 2001 PALS Snapshot from over 190 ponds, uses this data to develop Cape Cod-specific indicators of pond impacts, reviews data collected in previous studies, and details further efforts necessary to move pond protection and remediation forward on the Cape. Cape Cod has nearly 994 ponds covering nearly 11,000 acres. These ponds range in size from less than an acre to 735 acres; with the 21 biggest ponds having nearly half of the total Cape-wide pond acreage. Approximately 40% of the ponds are less than an acre. Prior to the creation of this Pond Atlas, a complete count of all the ponds on Cape Cod had not been accomplished. Of the 994 ponds, only 176 have maximum depth measurements and only 89 have bathymetric information, which is important for understanding water quality information. As part of the overall PALS program, SMAST provided laboratory services at no cost to towns or volunteers for the 2001 PALS Snapshot of pond water quality. Volunteers collected dissolved oxygen and temperature profiles, clarity readings, and 421 water quality samples from 195 ponds between August 15 and September 30. Samples were analyzed for chlorophyll a, alkalinity, pH,-total nitrogen, and total phosphorus. This information is the most comprehensive dataset on Cape Cod ponds. This dataset was used to provide a general assessment of pond water quality on Cape Cod. The authors reviewed existing tools for evaluating pond ecosystem nutrient levels, including Carlson's Trophic Status Index and USEPA's ecoregion nutrient thresholds, and applied USEPA's nutrient threshold calculation methodology to develop Cape Cod-specific nutrient thresholds. These tools were used to look at the general status of ponds on town by town basis and select number of individual ponds. The review of current USEPA nutrient thresholds and Cape Cod nutrient thresholds suggest that the water quality in Cape Cod ponds is significantly impacted by surrounding development. Review of 2001 dissolved oxygen concentrations and comparison of 1948 and 2001 dissolved oxygen concentrations suggest that many of these pond ecosystems are not only impacted, but also seriously impaired. Based on information in this Atlas, between 74 and 93% of the Cape's ponds are impacted by surrounding development or uses. Based largely on Cape Cod Pond and Lake Atlas i May, 2003