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Report of the Sewer Commission To the Honorable Board of Selectmen and the Citizens of the Town of Mashpee: The Commission took the first significant steps forward in 2019 toward achieving the work outlined in the Watershed Nitrogen Management Plan (WNMP) developed by the Commission and our consultants and approved by the state (MEPA and DEP) in 2015. Using $450,000 in Nitrogen Mitigation Funds from a number of development projects being held for the Town's use by the Cape Cod Commission, the Town contracted with GHD, Inc. to develop a preliminary design of the treatment plant specified in the Plan to be located adjacent to the Town's trash transfer station as part of Phase 1 of the Plan. Work on the design began in late 2018 and continued through 2019, with the final preliminary design delivered by GHD in January of 2020. As part of the design development, a separate Value Engineering Study of GHD's proposals was conducted by the firm of Weston & Sampson (funded through the Town's Legal & Engineering Fund) to review GHD's work and suggest potential improvements and cost savings. The Weston & Sampson report was also delivered at a joint meeting of the Commission, GHD and Weston & Sampson in January 2020. A number of the Weston & Sampson suggestions were well -received and will be incorporated in the Final Design of the treatment plant. The Commission held a number of public forums to solicit public and neighborhood input on the plant's site plan and design which resulted in modifications to minimize any impacts on the surrounding area, and sponsored a tour of the similar Mashpee Commons treatment plant to allay fears that had been raised about odors and other concerns. The Commission was also encouraged by the creation of the Mashpee Clean Waters citizens group and the series of on-line forums it held to explain our nutrient pollution problem and promote accurate information about the WNMP and the treatment plant proposal. Having completed the preliminary treatment plant design, the Commission's work is again at a standstill for lack of funding to proceed with final design of the treatment plant and of the Phase 1 wastewater collection system intended to begin cleanup of the Mashpee River. The Commission submitted funding articles for those final designs for both the May and October 2019 Town Meetings which were removed from those warrants by the Selectmen. Fortunately, following a series of special Selectmen's meetings regarding wastewater issues held in late 2019, the Selectmen have agreed to put forward the necessary funding articles at the May 2020 Town Meeting. The WNMP describes work to be done in five 5- year phases. As each phase is completed, the condition of our waterways and other factors will be analyzed to determine how well the plan is working toward achieving the nitrogen targets set by the EPA for our estuaries and whether adjustments need to be made to the Plan (a process referred to as "adaptive management"). This adaptive management approach is particularly important as the Plan relies heavily on removing a significant portion of the water 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 nitrogen 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 significantly). 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 nitrogen targets (shellfish cannot meet the targets 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. The 182