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the other towns not cooperate in developing the permit, part of the WNMP as well as the MEP reports for our DEP can be asked to issue such a permit on its own. estuaries and other web sites dealing with the nitrogen issue, along with minutes of all the Commission's The October Town Meeting article,for$80,000, meetings. There is also an information kiosk at the rear will also fund negotiations regarding the Waquoit Bay entrance to Town Hall and two brochures available at watersheds and the development of memorandums of Town Hall,the Library and the Senior Center.You may understanding regarding the Town's use or acquisition also refer to the Mashpee Blue Book,a citizen's guide of existing private wastewater treatment plants as part to our nutrient-related water quality problems and what of our municipal sewer system. Town Meeting also needs to be done about them. Recordings of television funded a $100,000 article to fund the first stages of broadcasts of most of our meetings can also be viewed plans to connect portions of the town to the Tribe's on the Town's web site at http://www.mashpeema.gov. Wampanoag Village treatment plant on Meetinghouse Road and to the Mashpee Commons treatment plant. Our part-time Sewer Commission Administrator, As a down-payment on the Shellfish portion of the Paul Gobell,PE,retired from the Massachusetts Water Plan,$250,000 was also voted in October for expanded Resources Authority and previously employed by EPA, shellfish propagation. continued his valuable work to coordinate our planning with the adjacent towns, the County and state and Since the Plan was adopted,two other initiatives federal agencies,including Joint Base Cape Cod,until have moved forward. One is an EPA-funded USGS his services were discontinued late in the year. His groundwater study of a potential "Permeable Reactive assistance and expertise were critical to the Barrier"site along River Road adjacent to Sandalwood Commission, were much appreciated and are sorely to help with nitrogen mitigation in the Mashpee River. missed. The site was chosen as part of a competitive grant process. Work on test wells will begin in early 2016, The Commission was extremely disappointed with a report on the site expected in the Spring. The with the Town's reversal of its support for the Mashpee second,in conjunction with the Town of Falmouth,and Water & Sewer District legislation approved by the with a $20,000 grant from the County Water Quality House of Representatives and State Senate and signed Collaborative, $2500 from the Citizens for the by the Governor. Time and millions of taxpayers' Protection of Waquoit Bay, $500 from the Mashpee dollars would have been saved in implementing the Environmental Coalition, and the rest split by the Plan if the District had been established. Towns,is a$43,500 study to determine if flushing rates can be improved in Falmouth's Moonakis estuary so The Commission still finds itself two members that necessary sewering of the Quashnet River short. There are also now Community Advisory watershed might be reduced. Regarding that sewering, Committee vacancies for four of the five Precincts and we continue to be in contact with Mass Development the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council,for which the and Joint Base Cape Cod regarding the potential state Commission would greatly appreciate volunteers as we acquisition of the wastewater facilities on the Base and move into implementation of the Plan. their use/expansion to treat Mashpee wastewater. The state expects that the Air Force (which owns and The Commission and Mashpee officials and manages the facilities) will be making a decision soon residents have serious work cut out for us to identify on their future and that, if all goes as expected, funding and financing strategies for developing the negotiations would begin in 2016 between the Air facilities and practices needed to clean up our Force and Mass Development regarding the state waterways. Among other issues,we will have to devise taking over the plant and other Base utilities. a fair division of the large costs involved between individual betterments and general property taxes,and In order to keep Mashpee's residents informed of determine how best to deal with developments that the problem we face and the steps we are taking to deal already have private sewer systems(which would need with it, we have maintained our public information to be upgraded to help meet the TMDLs). The WNMP program. One result of that work is a web site, will have major water quality, land use and fiscal www.mashpeewaters.com,which explains the nitrogen ramifications for the Town, so we invite all residents problem,the WNMP and where our work stands. The to actively participate in its implementation through our site includes links to all the documents generated as meetings and public hearings, by visiting our 154