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column nitrogen load through seeding and commercial harvesting of large numbers (millions) of shellfish in Hamblin and Jehu Ponds, Great and Little Rivers and Ockway Bay, and a significant expansion of current oyster propagation and harvesting efforts in the Mashpee River, Shoestring Bay and Popponesset Bay. The oyster propagation work is also being enhanced by the Wampanoag Tribe. In conjunction with sewering and other nitrogen reduction measures such as stormwater bio-retention areas, development controls and land purchases to reduce "buildout" population and other measures, shellfish seeding and commercial harvesting on a large scale may make meeting the TMDL targets for Hamblin and Jehu Ponds and Great River possible on their own, and also ultimately reduce the area of the Town that has to be sewered in other watersheds (thus reducing resulting costs by about half from previous estimates). Should the shellfish prove as effective as hoped, only the first two or three phases of sewer facility construction would be required to meet the TMDLs (shellfish cannot meet the TMDLs on their own in the Mashpee River and Shoestring Bay sub - watersheds, or at all in the Quashnet / Moonakis River sub -watershed, meaning that significant sewer construction will still be required in those sub - watersheds and is proposed in the first two 5-year phases). As each 5-year phase is completed and water quality results become known, it may be necessary to construct portions or all of the later phases of the proposed sewer facilities if the shellfish option does not produce the hoped -for results. We continue to be optimistic that such will not be the case. October 2015 Town Meeting funded $100,000 for the development of conceptual plans for sewer collection systems to be tied into the existing Mashpee Commons and Wampanoag Tribal wastewater treatment plants. The project was begun in April and is 90% complete as 2016 ends. The project scope has been adjusted to include conceptual plans for sewer collection systems to be connected to the proposed new Town wastewater facility adjacent to the Transfer Station. Funding for preliminary design of that treatment plant and related facilities was sought but not put to Town Meeting in 2016, with no funding on the horizon for any further design or construction of the first phase called for in the WNMP. As a result, the Commission and required facility development will come to an unfortunate standstill once the current project is completed, at a time when the WNMP schedule called for initiation of the second year of phase 1. It is hoped that the Town will settle soon on a funding program and schedule so that we can begin to address our wastewater facility needs. Funding has been provided for the initial stages of the shellfish portion of the Plan, a new Department of Natural Resources has been created to help implement it, and steady progress is being made with shellfish propagation and seeding. The EPA -funded USGS groundwater study, conducted in the Spring, of a potential "Permeable Reactive Barrier" site along River Road adjacent to Sandalwood to help with nitrogen mitigation in the Mashpee River, in competition with other sites on Cape Cod, did not show sufficient results to be brought to the next step of investigation. Two other Cape sites were chosen. The $43,500 study of Falmouth's Moonakis estuary to see if improvements can be made which would reduce necessary sewering of the Quashnet River watershed is ongoing. Regarding that sewering, we continue to be in contact with Mass Development and Joint Base Cape Cod regarding the potential state acquisition of the wastewater facilities on the Base and their use/expansion to treat Mashpee wastewater, as called for in phase 2 of the WNMP. A $135,000 State Efficiency & Regionalization Grant was recently received to conduct an engineering assessment for a potential partnership for wastewater management among Bourne, Mashpee, Falmouth, Sandwich and Joint Base Cape Cod, with work to begin in early 2017. In order to keep Mashpee's residents informed of the problem we face and the steps we are taking to deal with it, we have maintained our public information program, publishing a second brochure entitled "Leading the way on the Cape: Mashpee's innovation protects our environment and quality of life". It can be obtained outside the new Planning Department office in Town Hall, where the Commission's informational kiosk is also located. In addition, the web site www.mashpeewaters.com explains the nitrogen problem, the WNMP and where our work stands. The site includes links to all the documents generated as part of the WNMP as well as the MEP reports for our estuaries and other web sites dealing with the nitrogen issue. You may also refer to the Mashpee Blue Book, a citizen's guide to our nutrient -related water quality problems and what needs to be done about them. 159