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BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW: <br /> The Mashpee Water Quality Monitoring Program is an on-going collaborative effort between the <br /> Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe,the Town of Mashpee and the Coastal LSye S Program d Technology <br /> within the University of Massachusetts—Dartmouth, School of M <br /> (SMAST). The project has a two-fold goal: 1) sustain a continuing assessment of the nutrient <br /> regulatory <br /> related water quality of the Waquoit Bay and Poppanesset Bauaii tuaesultirrg fiomries relativeorestoration <br /> standards (TMDUs) and 2)monitor improvements m water q ty <br /> efforts (e.g. oyster propagation, dredging,N removals by freshwater systems,wastewater <br /> treatment,etc.} as undertaken by the Town, Tribe and others. The program goals <br /> are <br /> ac achieved <br /> to <br /> through the collection and analysis of water samples and associated <br /> assessing the health of estuarine habitats within.the Waquoit Bay anP �t and long-termet stems, <br /> Cape Cod, MA. (Figure 1). These data form the basis for: 1) gauging <br /> modeling <br /> trends in water quality,2) validating the Massachusetts EstuariesnProjecct a h USEPA and <br /> approach for Waquoit Bay+Popponesset Bay and 3} deterrr g compliance w <br /> MassDEP nitrogen targets set under the Clean Water Act by TMDL analysis that has been <br /> previously formalized for all of Mashpee's estuarine waters. <br /> In order to develop a sustainable long-term program, a consortium�'a tier and b createdhpubl csample <br /> collection is completed by volunteers recruited by each consortiumY <br /> participants,with equipment and analytical costs distributed rbetween the <br /> t um wapdeloppdanoag. <br /> Tribe and the Town of Mashpee. Tl►e Mashpee Water Quality <br /> under a Memorandum of Understanding(2009)between the Mashpee <br /> ST e T The dConso�tu Tribe, the <br /> is <br /> Town of Mashpee and the Coastal Systems Program (CSP-SM ) <br /> managed through the Mashpee Waterways Commission. It is <br /> of these systems an important art ofand to he going <br /> efforts to develop nitrogen management plans for the restos <br /> determine the level of"success" <br /> through the consistent collectiof key <br /> h Shabitat <br /> aau slth metrics <br /> nly cs <br /> throughout each system i1 the most cost-effective manner possible, program <br /> method for providing a cross comparable baseline for gauging Long-term changes in water <br /> quality, as the Towns of Mashpee, Falmouth and Barnstableo t Baement their and PnpponessetpBay <br /> ing <br /> nitrogen management plans for the restoration of the Waqu y <br /> systems. <br /> Nutrient related water quality decline continues to represent one o andnmost <br /> ovally Coastal serious is to the <br /> ecological health of nearshore coastal waters in southeastern MA <br /> embayments;because of their enclosed basins, shallow waters and large shoreline area, are <br /> generally the first indicators of nutrient loading from terrestrial sources. <br /> Although <br /> lthou without <br /> each <br /> embayrment system maintains a capacity to assimilate we <br /> degradation, as loading increases, a point is reached at which the assimilative capacity is <br /> exceeded and nutrient related water quality degradation occurs. Continuing <br /> at ini increases Because n nitr o e <br /> inputs beyond this.threshold level result in further declines quality. <br /> via surface <br /> coastal salt ponds and embayments are the primary recipients of nu fes withan the watershed, and <br /> groundwater transport from terrestrial sources,itis clear that activities <br /> often miles from the water body itself,can have chronic and long lasting impacts on these fragile <br /> coastal environments. <br /> 1 <br />