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progress.Ms. Kane was also instrumental in the pub- With the loss of Ralph Marcelli and Tom lication of the Mashpee Blue Book, a citizen's guide O'Hara's election to the Board of Selectmen, the to our nutrient-related water quality problems and Commission has found itself two members short, rep- what needs to be done about them. Recordings of tele- resenting precincts 2 and 3,since May. As a result,we vision broadcasts of our meetings can also be viewed submitted an article passed at the October Town on the Town's web site at htip://www.mashpeema.gov. Meeting which will allow the Selectmen to appoint replacement members who do not live in those In August, an application for a $226,000 Clean precincts. We were also greatly saddened, and our Water State Revolving Fund loan was submitted by work made more difficult, by the loss of Edward the Selectmen for preliminary engineering of a Nitrex Baker, who served as the Precinct 2 representative to `°permeable reactive barrier" (PRB) at the Pirate's our Community Advisory Committee and was a val- Cove Subdivision. Proposed by Lombardo ued and stalwart advocate for cleaning up the i! Associates, one of the Commission's consultants, the Mashpee River, our estuaries and Santuit Pond. Ed's I concept of the PRB is to intercept and filter nitrogen technical expertise and willingness to put in the time from groundwater before it reaches Popponesset Bay. and effort required to find a solution to our water qual- The application was approved for $190,000, but as a ity problems will be sorely missed. 2%loan rather than a 0% loan, with loan forgiveness, y that Lombardo had predicted. As a result of the loan On a more positive note, thanks to funding pro- cost,it was not pursued. However, the PRB concept vided by the voters at May Town Meeting, the Town I'. s has been incorporated for further study into the 3 has hired a part-time Sewer Commission y options noted above. Administrator on a contract basis. Paul Gobell, PE, recently retired from the Massachusetts Water i! y The work of the mediator funded by the County Resources Authority and previously employed by s to help develop agreements between Mashpee and the EPA, began work in December. He is rapidly absorb- t three other towns (Barnstable, Sandwich and ing all the reports previously done on our bays and the Falmouth)which lie within the Popponesset and"East WNMP and has already demonstrated his worth in Waquoit" watersheds as to each town's share of providing valuable input on the Breezy Acres sewer responsibility for the cleanup of those estuaries con- line design. As he becomes more familiar with D tinued to move slowly, delayed by his need to deal Mashpee and the WNMP, Paul will become the pri- r with the Conservation Law Foundation's suit regard- mary public contact person for the Commission and a e ing the TMDLs and threatened suit against the valuable technical asset as we finalize our plans. Paul (' r County,as well as the scientific peer review conducted has also been appointed by the Selectmen to their sub- for the County regarding the adequacy of the MEP committee regarding negotiations with the Mashpee s models(they were found to be an appropriate basis for Water District on enlarging their role to take on waste- TMDLs and nitrogen management planning). water system development as a Water & Sewer Determining each town's fair share of responsibility is District. He can be contacted at (508)539-1400 ext. a key element in our planning process, as it will help 8598 or at PGobell@mashpeema.gov. h determine what amount of wastewater treatment and y other nitrogen reduction measures Mashpee will have The County's Cape Cod Water Protection to fund and implement. We are assured, now that the Collaborative continued its work on seeking state and peer review has been completed,that the mediator will federal funding assistance for wastewater facilities on I be getting back to work. Meanwhile, the the Cape, on coordinating wastewater facilities plan- Commission's chairman presented our recommended ning by the towns and on otherwise dealing with our "fair share" approach regarding achieving the TMDL water quality improvement needs. Selectman Mike j I targets to Barnstable's wastewater Community Richardson serves as the Town's representative on the I Advisory Committee, which endorsed the approach Collaborative. The most important achievement of the 1 and agreed to work with Barnstable officials and our Collaborative to date has been its role in the develop- mediator to develop a memorandum of agreement ment and passage by the state legislature of former between our towns regarding the issue. Senator O'Leary's bill (Chapter 312 of the Acts of s 2008) which provides 0% interest loans for waste- water facilities primarily intended to prevent nutrient enrichment of water bodies or water supplies. The 159