10/16/2019 ENVIRONMENTAL OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE Minutes

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Mashpee Community Garden and MCGAC Planning and Management: Update MCGAC meet with Catherine, Wayne Taylor and Terrie Cook to discuss future work, including the hiring of Lawrence Lynch to assist with demolition of the old gardens. They will try to lay the new footprint out this winter. 2019 was a decent year for the gardens overall, with 14 of the 20 plots rented out. They did add height to the existing fence as well. They are currently looking for contractors for future work. DNR and PALS Pond & Estuary Water Quality Monitoring; Brian Howes report Santuit Pond has currently the worst bloom of the year with counts of over 100,000 cells/mL. The Masphpee Health Department posted cyanobacteria(blue-green algae) advisory signs at the landings and other sites. The APCC Water Quality Report (www.capecodwaters.org) lists water quality Popponesset Bay, Waquoit Bay, Santuit Pond, and Mashpee-Wakeby Lake as unacceptable, immediate restoration required. The problem in the bays is excess nitrogen. In Mashpee/Wakeby Lake the problem is phosphorous. From the 2017 PALS data,the Lake would be classified as eutrophic (unacceptable) based on the average phosphorous concentration which is very high on the bottom of Mashpee side, but not in the upper waters above 9 meters, but the Wakeby side is worse with eutrophic phosphorous levels throughout the water column. From the algae perspective, the Lake was not eutrophic with relatively clear water(Secchi disk visibility was 3.2 meters in Mashpee, and 2.2 meters in Wakeby. Chlorophyll averaged 2.92 ug/L in Mashpee and 6.56 ug/l in Wakeby). Selectman Gottlieb mentioned that invasive Asian clams filtering algae from the water might be an explanation for the lack of algae, and said that it was worse between the 1970s-1990s when there were heavy green algae blooms. We need to sewer to address water quality issues in the bays and ponds In Ashumet Pond Cyanobacteria advisory signs were also posted at Ashumet Pond due to occasional surface concentrations of floating cyanobacteria. The water was mostly clear with algae cell counts well below the advisory threshold. In the past,the Air Force mitigated cyanobacteria blooms in Ashumet pond by controlling phosphorous with alum treatment in the bottom waters below the thermocline (to prevent fish kills). No fish kills were recorded this year, and the saltwater is clear water right now due to the time of year.. Mashpee CWMP: • DNR/Estuary Restoration/Shellfish Program: Update Shellfish surveys were conducted in Hamblin Pond. These surveys were conducted for shellfish population assessment and future shellfish seeding area determination. Surveys will be conducted in other areas also. Quahog harvests are up in Waquoit Bay. Spawns carried tidal flow from the quahogs that grew from the millions of seed that we seed in the Great River, Little River and Hamblin Pond are a large source of seed for the bay.now. Studies were conducted at the Little River Town Dock in September to measure algae and nitrogen removal by adult and seed quahogs and oysters for the SMAST Bioremediation study. In September,we planted approximately 1.2 million quahogs under predator netting at the mouth of Great and Little River and in Hamblin Pond. More quahog seed continues to grow at the Little River Town Dock despite a lower amount of food during this time of year. Quahogs will add to the thickness of their shell from calcium in the water. This helps to protect them against predation. They will be planted later. All the remote set oyster bags in the Mashpee River are open and the seed spread out in the trays. Measurements are being used to estimate growth and survival of the oyster seed. In September, oysters were collected from the Mashpee River for analysis of nitrogen content at SMAST for the Bioremediation study. Oyster harvesting starts November 1. 2