2004-Annual Town Report - Laserfiche WebLink

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dredging approach, and that is expensive if commer- Report of the cial operators are used. We are therefore working with Waterways Commission the County Dredge department and the other Cape towns to see if such a capability would be appropriate for the County. To the Honorable Board of Selectmen and the Citizens of the Town of Mashpee This recommendation was documented in a letter to Selectmen in July 2004, but responses from other The Waterways Commission meets monthly to Cape towns have been very slow. deliberate on waterways-related topics. Our goal is to maintain and improve the waterways in Mashpee. To Water Quality Monitoring this end we work with the Harbormaster to oversee n maintenance dredging and plan and manage improve- who is analyzing We continued working nutrient with Dr. Brian Howes roblems of the ment dredging. We also actively support the Towns Popponesset Ba and Wa uoit Ba Systems. In 2004 efforts to improve water quality in our bays. pP Y q Y Y we took samples at 15 sites in Waquoit Bay and its Maintenance Dredging tributaries In 2004 we used the County Dredge's booster We took water samples to measure dissolved pump capability to dredge the outside channel of oxygen, salinity, temperature, turbidity, and nutrient Popponesset Bay. That enabled us to place over 5000 levels. r cubic yards of material onto the southwest end of Popponesset Spit. We used the material to restore the This monitoring will be an on-going requirement eroding coastal bank and the County Dredge operator for the indefinite future. Water quality monitoring in both bas is needed to assess continuing degradation �. graded the material to form a wide beach. We also Y g gT built up the low spot near the tip of Popponesset and eventually determine what effect wastewater man- Island. agement efforts are having on water quality. i The purpose of this beach nourishment effort is Other Committee Work to maintain the spit's function as a barrier spit that pro- I tects the bay from storm action. The effort was suc- The Waterways Commission members partici- cessful because for the first time in several years, the pate in other Town and County committees as follows: Ij sand under the stairs at the end of Wading Place Road y on State land was not washed away.In the past the bot- • on J.Daly—Barnstable County Coastal tom of the stairs has been suspended one to two feet in Resources Committee the air. Also, there were fewer overwash incidents • James P. Hanks—County Dredge Advisory during storm activity than in previous years. Committee • Timothy Leedham — Mashpee Local Improvement Dredging Multiple Hazard Community Planning Team • It The current project is to obtain permits to dredge The W. Lumsden — Sewer Commission the Mashpee River. In mid 2002 we determined that Advisory Committee the proposed Ockway Bay public landing de-watering • John Swartzbaugh — Town of Mashpee site was too small. We investigated the possible use of Wind Energy Task Force conservation land, working closely with the William R. Taylor — County Dredge Conservation Commission Chairman and Vice-chair- Advisory Committee man to arrive at an agreed upon site, but found that it Mashpee-Wakeby Lake Management was an impractical approach due to the constraints on Committee use of conservation land. Respectfully submitted, Additionally, hydrodynamic and water quality John Swartzbaugh, Chairman modeling conducted by the Estuaries project revealed James P. Hanks, Vice-Chairman that removingthe material from the river would have a Gerald J. Daly slight negative impact on water quality. Given that, Timothy Leedham and the lack of a suitable upland site, the best recourse Paul W. Lumsden appears to be depositing the material in the river in the William R. Taylor form of islands. To do that requires a mechanical i (i 129