2/16/2012 SEWER COMMISSION Minutes

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Report backs Mass. Estuaries Project data By Doreen Leggett Wicked Local Cape Cod Posted Jan 17,2012 @ 11:42 AM Proceed on wastewater plans with confidence is the take home message of a lengthy final report that delves into whether the Massachusetts Estuaries Project should serve as a blueprint for the Cape's future efforts to stop declining water quality. "The findings of the panel puts the nail in the coffin of any lingering concerns about the validity and quality of the science being used to develop plans to improve the quality of our bays," said Andrew Gottlieb, executive director of the Cape Cod Water Protection Collaborative. "It is now time to focus our collective energy on developing and implementing solutions." The written report, which is available online at the collaborative website, www.capekeepers.org, follows an oral presentation given in November. The 53-page report expounds on many of the insights the team of independent scientists spoke about last year, including the appropriateness of the state's modeling and the suitability of relying on eelgrass as a sentinel species. The panel was convened by Barnstable County after many towns found moving ahead on their wastewater plans tough going as question after question arose about whether the state's model— which sets specific amounts of nitrogen that need to be removed from individual water bodies— was solid enough to base billions of dollars of wastewater infrastructure on. "The findings of this panel confirm that we are using the best science available to us," said collaborative chairman and Harwich Selectman Larry Ballantine in a statement. According to the experts,who spent several months working on the task,towns should have enough confidence to begin remediation to deal with nitrogen pollution,primarily from septic systems. But,they said,the state's studies should be treated as living, not static, documents. Continued monitoring needs to be done,the panel said, and towns need to take advantage of adaptive management so they can respond to information that water quality was better or worse than originally thought. The wastewater plans are designed in phases so the later treatment options can be altered. "The towns should proceed with this framework to develop and implement wastewater and nutrient management plans and make improvements along the way,"the scientists wrote. They stressed the importance of adaptive management,which is allowed under the Environmental Protection Agency,which signs off on the plans. The ability to make adjustments is important,the researchers said,because precise nitrogen loads aren't possible considering the uncertainty of some of the inputs. For example,the paper points out that the state's work estimates that about 50 percent of nitrogen is taken up by freshwater ponds: that isn't precise. The scientists wrote that they aren't recommending wholesale changes in the model only that the uncertainty be talked about and dealt with. If a TMDL,the total maximum daily load of nitrogen, needs to be changed the state has to revise its previous number based on the new information. If improvements are made along the way"progress will be made in the most cost effective manner while gathering new information to improve upon the scientific analysis, and the initial wastewater and nutrient management plans,"the researchers noted.